Usually when I get CDs to review from Sound In Silence they're ambient, minimal and fairly easy to describe. This one...not so much. Although both artists have been part of Sound In Silence in the past, I've never heard of them. Not surprising considering there's a gazillion music artists releasing a gazillion products every year. Ruxpin (pseudonym of Jonas Thor Gudmundsson, not the animatronic children's toy, Teddy Ruxpin) is an iconic electronic music producer of the Icelandic IDM scene since 1999 with many releases. Stafrænn Hákon (pseudonym of Ólafur Josephsson) has nearly the same background as Ruxpin (but different), so it seems inevitable these two would collaborate at some point. What separates 'Meet Me in Forever' from other SIS releases is that it's not minimal and not ambient.

Twelve tracks in an hour, rhythm and beat forward, drone rock. "Flawless Delivery" offers a set program drumkit rhythm, drone background, post rock guitars lazily riffing through the beats, and a little accenting "aah" on the four. That's kind of it with very little in the way of changes until the tumbledown finish. The rhythm is a bit more interesting on "Unmapped Landscapes" with thick, shifting synth chord pads, somewhat melodic, like a song without lyrics...until the voices come it- one processed beyond recognition, the other rapping words I can't understand. Outside of that, nothing changes until the end when the beat disappears and the drones hold sway. "Cloud Surf 85" is more processed in the beat department and there's something melodic buried in the shoegaze haze of the dronings, but I'm beginning to suss the modus operadi of these guys. A few other elements enter the track, and I like how effortlessly it slides into "Odesa". Old school airy synth sounds from the '80s carry the melody over the rhythm track, and as usual, plenty of repetition before anything changes. Gentle acoustic guitar heralds "Delayed Goodbyes" with rhythm provided by an 808 style drum machine and we actually get vocals (nice ones at that) where we can actually hear the lyrics. A lovely song.

"Second Breath" is sort of minimal guitar improv over a basic beat, with processed drone voices filling in the background at first, then shifting something else in the background which eventually takes over. "Footsteps" is just inimitably melodic IDM, and one of the best things on the album. It all just comes together here. "Dark Rift" sounds like it was recorded in a subway station. Maybe that was the effect Ruxpin and Hákon were striving for here. Nearly glitchy in the beat department is "Angeyja," with a soft, echo-repeat on the beat sub-melody and simple, smooth over-melody. I think I've heard this kind of experimentation before in early Roxy Music...

Winding down with the last three tracks, "Offshore" has a swept noise-snare rhythm with a melodic stew of guitar and synths over rumbling bass, and the melody grows more prodigious over time until just the guitar at the end. "Reunited (If It's What You Want)" is distinguished by the vocals of Olena Simon, who sounds an awful lot like Bjork. (She's French, but lives in Iceland.) Nice sentimental song. "What We Need" begins sounding like a noisy afterthought but then this wall of voices comes in for a few moments before it all melts down. So there you have it. I'm not going to pretend I really understand the whole kit and kaboodle here, but I will predict that this limited edition run of 300 handmade, hand-numbered copies will sell out...soon.