D.U.S.T.

This first effort from D.U.S.T. certainly won’t be swept under the carpet anytime too soon. Oh what refreshing sounds to my ears is this. It has been a long time since I’ve gotten this excited about a disc so quickly; by the third song I already wanted to go back to the beginning of the CD and start it again. The songs are ridiculously catchy, incorporating that ’80s pop song feel with a more current, abrasive edge. The vocal work, courtesy of Mikey, is certainly the driving force behind this debut album’s 11 songs. Alternating between melodic and moody, the songs will appeal to fans of Echo and the Bunnymen (or many other English pop acts prominent in the ’80s). This English group seems to take everything that was so grand about ’80s pop music, leave the crappy bits behind and update it all to make their brand of delicious alternative synth-rock. A nice melding of guitar rock, electronics and straight ahead pop, D.U.S.T. seems to know just what left-of-centre listeners are craving these days. They’ve thankfully showed us that the riff is still alive, pop music isn’t all just fluff and the keyboard is as important an instrument as anything else.