ANGELS DUST
The Great Depression EP
Hit + Run

Los Angeles-via-San Diego duo Angels Dust may call the desert home, but their cobwebbed, funereal music seems better fit for the hills of, say, Transylvania. The Great Depression, their third release for L.A. label Hit + Run, is both their darkest and prettiest yet, with Flavia Ciampi’s voice floating like a friendly ghost through producer David Lampley’s haunted house of cadaverous trip-hop. Spooky comparisons aside, “skeletal” may be the best way to describe Lampley’s beats—the sparseness of his bare kicks and snares only add urgency to Ciampi’s mournful sighs. Occasionally a stray harp or piano will pop up, like on the waltz pastiche “Barren”, but always decayed and slightly out of tune, like an old photograph left in the attic for decades. Fans of London’s Tri Angle Records will find a lot to like here–like that label’s halcyon days of Clams Casino and How To Dress Well, The Great Depression takes a smattering of familiar elements and twists them beyond recognition, using lo-fi trappings as an aesthetic advantage. “Pure”, in particular, is ambient r&b at its dirtiest, with Ciampi floating just beyond intelligibility while static churns and 808s boom beneath her. Like the EP’s best moments, it’s addictive, but hard to sing along to, and groovy, but too spaced out to nod your head. It’s a record best silently absorbed. The duo are something of a rare catch live, so until that changes, a quiet night and a lit candle will have to do.

—Zach Bilson

ANGELS DUST’S THE GREAT DEPRESSION IS OUT MON., AUG. 28, ON HIT + RUN.