Skoud is a Russian/Swedish drum and bass aficionado with a flair for the romantic. Listening to his latest album Systems and Drafts is a bit like watching a Bergman film — there are hooks and glances that only make sense in context.
The song titles, however, are far from romantic. System 3 Draft 2 couples a wistful melody with R2D2 electronics. System 25 is similar, repeating a moody melodic line against an array of surprisingly soulful blips and bleeps. In fact, soulful blips and bleeps are all over this record. There’s something about the timing though, that keeps it all noiresque and fog-drenched. There is a ghost in the machine and its heart is on fire.
In what seems to be a new trend, songs are short, flowing into each other with barely a pause. The disc has a cinematic quality, full of elided scenes segueing one into the next. Always there’s the pale blue sky and the open sea.
On System 20 Live Edit, a tap dance rhythm takes over. The dancer is a robot. The guitarist is a man. There is delicate

interplay, and we perhaps glance out the window for a moment at a scene long forgotten and no longer there. Later, in Bagtag, we are transported to a crumbling seaside pleasure villa where the distorted strains of disco take us home.
As a record perported to be nothing more than ‘systems and drafts,’ there is a surprising amount of evocative imagery to be found here. I found much of it to be ethereal or futuristic, or both, but still and nearly always nostalgic. If there was such a thing as ‘drum and bass for lovers,’ this would be it.

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