Liminal

The seduction soundtrack du jour is by The Acid, which includes Aussie musician RyX, British DJ/producer Adam Freeland, and L.A.-based producer/technician Steve Nalepa (Drake, Photek, The Weeknd). The music is stark, restrained, and mysteriously beautiful in its alien-feeling landscape. Immaculately composed layers of hissing electronics (keyboards, beats), sheaths of glowing synths, and thudding, muted toms chased by snapping, crackling percussion ... how can these parts equal a languid, seductive whole? Of course, vocals have a lot to do with it. For the most part they're nearly whispered here, occasionally thickened and bolstered with backups and/or spurts of assertive suggestion. When breathy vocals are paired with an acoustic guitar (“Ra,” “Basic Instinct”) the thought of Elliott Smith looms in the air; at other moments, choruses are layered and lifted and Fleet Foxes come fleetingly to mind, though that's surrounded here by rubbery, vibrating synth notes. “Tumbling Lights” is a haunting, haunted spectacle, and “Fame” is a pulsating desire, carried on a breeze.