Tribal progressive beats / acid house beats (take your pick) with a filtered bassline and two pads that weave their way in and out of distortion. And that’s pretty much all you hear for the first 71 seconds. Then Juliet starts singing.

Pity those people who’ve only heard the radio or TV mix of this. What could be the centrepiece of the album is disposed of as the second track. A measure of confidence perhaps that something this powerful is let go so early. I’m pleased the album was sequenced this way.

Pity also those people who buy this album on iTunes. Why? No Avalon. Plus you get now-irritatingly-low-fi 128kbps MP3s.

And so it continues to build. More beats, fx and the pads wander around into oscillation. We’re only halfway through.

Fortunately the track knows how to finish.. more.. more.. more.. then it all falls away to ambience.

Inverness, here I come.

Is that Au as in gold or ‘Au!’ as in you’ve stepped on my toes?

We’re off and running: ‘Something in the mystery of obsession. Something in the way you forget my name’. A spiralling bassline and a simple 4/4 beat. And Juliet’s vocals. Pay attention.

It’s not until after the first chorus that a supplementary line and a pad comes in. This album is all about builds and drops. The two essential parts of dance music. Au has it in spades. The way the whole track drops away just for one short guitar riff as it leads into the chorus and then all blows back is stunning.

Where do I start? I know nothing about Juliet. She released this song Avalon which I became slightly familiar with. Then most recently came Ride the Pain. This was a lot more inticing. A perfect merging of rock and dance music, written by people who understand that nuances should be found inside music, whilst they demonstrated and exhibited their knowledge of the history of electronic and guitar based composition.

But little prepared me for the album. Random Order appears to be the descendent of the pioneers of 80s synth pop, 90s rock, electronica and pop and the magical mystery of the 60s. Or, if you’re looking for specifics, the proper sequel to Madonna’s Music. It’s an album that climbs onto your back, claws at you, screaming in one ear, but whispering in the other.

Puppet is what could be the fiercest hottest techno ballad ever written. No, don’t argue. I know it doesn’t sound like a ballad, but it feels like a ballad to me. Especially in the context of the album. It shows the importance of the space between the sounds and notes in a tune (electronic music is as much about what’s missing as what’s present), letting your mind fill in the blanks, and making up new rhythms as you listen. This is why people sample guitars. And then, out of the blue comes this little harpsichord break. Sensational. All under three minutes long.

I’m left wondering: is this the perfect album? I’ve spent the best part of 20 years of my life ferreting around trying to find good music, and, yes, I’ve found a lot of fantastic stuff, but I’ve never found an album that’s as faultless as Random Order, for it made my jaw drop, it made me shiver, it made me cry and it stimulated my musical intellect.

I’m getting.. David Bowie.. then there’s this fuzzy buzzy electronic off-center melody. And then I’m listening to the lyrics and the delivery of the vocals and weirdly, I’m thinking Throwing Muses? One of those songs that if you deconstruct it you think ‘eww’, but bung it all together and it makes you shiver. Sublime.