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It's helpful reading Dave Edwards' thoughts on his new collection of work on the Minotaur Shock website, before listening to the grouping of tracks itself.
You'll notice I'm avoiding the word that tends to apply to a larger grouping of tracks released under one format, as Edwards seems keen to take account of the album's perceived decline in relevance. Therefore Amateur Dramatics isn't available on CD, and can be brought track by track if necessary. A collection of 'digital bits and binary bobs', as he puts it. A risky approach from an artist, you might think, though as he points out, this isn't his day job. Perhaps someone should make it so.
That may seem like a lot of waffle, but it has relevance is it completely changes the way in which Edwards approached the album. There is a concept, mind - and how could anyone resist a concept, album or no? - but this is a collection of tracks with no obvious thread running through it.
What does come through is Edwards' remarkable capacity for making his music come alive and lift from the monitor screen or the written page. It's the human touches such as the unexpected grace and sensitivity of the violin in Two Magpies, or the bright instrumental counterpoint making up the ensemble number Accelerated Footage, where lively melodies do battle and settle on a scoring draw rather than an outright winner.
Edwards clearly listens to a lot of music at a variety of tempi, meaning he sounds just as comfortable when meandering through interesting musical wallpaper to outright disco-fuelled stompers such as AmDram. There's also a keen sense of intimacy here, meaning that when he retreats to quieter, more electronic sounds, he's still able to paint a picture and make a connection with the listener.
That said his music works best when the live elements - violin and clarinet in particular - are brought into the musical foreground. Yet the programmed element, such as it is, sounds human too, enough to question the presence of live musicians in the studio. Modern it may be, but Edwards is keeping tab on several of his electronic predecessors as he goes - with Can, Steve Reich and Luke Vibert all useful reference points, without fully defining his sound.
So while there's not yet a section on musicOMH for 'Collections of Tracks' (nor is there likely to be!) this will just have to make do in with the other long players. And it does so, very well indeed.
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