If Thousands

After a ten-plus minute long opener, this duo sets the mood with a cover of Joy Division’s "Isolation,” as bleak as the original, that would make Ian Curtis come back to life just so he could hang himself all over again. Perfect. It’s mellow, it’s depressing and if you aren’t feeling lonely you sure the hell will want to be. The rest of the disc unfolds with a collection of ambient, experimental, improvised pieces using the Theremin, samplers, walkie talkies and other musical oddities to round out the synths and guitars. Speaking of guitars, check out "The Heat, The Hot” and "Your Weight” for your fill of that lazy, slow-mo, drug-addled strumming not heard so numbingly played since the Doors/Velvets. Aaron Molina’s vocals don’t show up very often, but when they do they compliment the minimalism of the music. The overall feel is like Belle and Sebastian on Valium, and it works because they’re not just making self-indulgent noise. There’s a coherency here that is often absent amidst the huge washes of sound and white-noise of other similar music, and that’s what stops you from wanting to pull the plug on this one after three songs.