Dark, down-tempo music often treads the line between calm and tension. It can be relaxing or a slow-moving storm. Andrew Spencer Goldman's work as Fulton Lights is right down the middle of that line. His self-titled debut is a wash of background energy balanced by subdued drums and his airy vocals. Like an ominous thunderhead that only threatens to explode, Fulton Lights carries significant weight with each drawn-out beat, but dissipates the tension through a smooth, self-contained sense of shoegaze melody.
As pulse rates tend to follow tempos, Fulton Lights can bring a heartbeat down to uncommon levels. There's no adrenaline to be spread from listening to the album, it's actually more meditative. "The Sound Of The City" has no sharpness: it's a bleak flow of mechanical, distorted guitar representing not the actual people and subways, but the importance of their existence. "Old Photographs" has a light, vibrating violin and somber guitar while "1,000 Little Eyes" is drum heavy but not intense. These dark elements make up the vast majority of the album.
Fulton Lights is a well-detailed relief from uptempo rock. It's the intermediary between anxiety and depression, two of rock's common vibes. It's mellow, but keeps a composed attention through interestingly chilled piano and low-gravity guitar effects. As a debut, it's a strong first step in an overlooked direction.
