Dual

The slight aural pun of Supercollider’s second album title also underscores the nature of the amazing partnership between Michael Horton and Philip Haut, who built on the striking promise of their debut to create an even more entrancing vision of truly modernist rock-as-such, as conversant with Steve Reichian minimalism, cyclical, relentless but never overbearing or crushing, as with vividly stirring guitar parts and an embrace of technological possibilities. On Dual Horton’s singing retains its core sense of a restrained, carefully performed human connection, a voice within gleaming sculptures created by his guitar and Haut’s drumming and sequencing. In 1994, they were arguably even more out of place in the world of alt-rock’s triumph, and felt all the more distinct; now, Dual seems timeless, right from the opening tension of “Seized,” which drives with a focused tension from opening notes to its almost serene conclusion. There’s a real sense of electric beauty in songs like “Stainless” and “Push-Pull,” almost suggesting what a non-dance oriented New Order might have done with similar musical tools. Other songs like “Give,” with its extended instrumental body and calmer coda with a brief Horton vocal, show the band testing further possibilities even as this second album proved to be their last in a too-short existence.