The Fun Years: Baby, It's Cold Inside

Label: Barge Recordings

The Fun Years’ Baby, It’s Cold Inside is one of the year’s finest electronic records. The second full-length from this experimental guitar-turtable duo builds on the promise of last year’s compelling Life-Sized Psychoses, delivering an album of five long tracks of dark, mysterious and often beautiful electronica, filled with synth swaths, minimalistic drone, field recordings and a warm melodicism rare in ambient music these days. Led by Ben Recht on guitar and Isaac Sparks on turntable, the group lets each track develop slowly, adding layers of sounds that give the music a rich emotional complexity. I read that these guys were inspired by Gas, and you’ll hear much of Wolgang Voigt’s use of space and sound, particularly in the lovely opening track, the 11-minute “My Lowville.” Fans of Mountains, Fennesz, William Basinski and music on the Type label will find much to admire in this lush, beautiful record. (James)