Super smooth Brooklyn trip-hop (Portishead, Massive Attack) meets a haunting lyrical prophesy of tomorrow’s Americana with the self-titled debut by Fulton Lights.

Andy Spencer Goldman (also associated with John Guilt, and Maestro Echoplex) has been working on this effort for three years now, and his effort seems to have paid off. The new alum’s ambitious design fully imagines a light, airy-vocaled, hip-hop sound that manages to be more fragile than smooth.

Originally the record came together around the track "Thank God for the Evening News", which combines an apocalyptic moment of nighttime resignation with weary political paranoia and a scratchy back-beat. The piece was a collaboration with Oktopus that became a demo in 2004, sparking creative energy for Goldman's larger project of Fulton Lights. Eventually artists associated with Wilco, the Walkmen, and the Hold Steady, among others, added their talents.

Much attention should be paid to Steve Silberstein and Rob Christiansen who engineered the recording process and presumably shaped the technical moments of atmospheric noise.

The record's fantastic noise and sound-space-making sound is not without issues. A possible distraction, Goldman's vocals are very light and this may be annoying at first. Despite this, the shear craftsmanship of the melodies and the shear bump of the rhythms eventually won me over.

The instrumentation is light and probably not familiar to young listeners weaned on the insipid laptop rap of Pharrell Williams and Timbaland. The record uses organs and a simple drum set to create all the vastness of an epic midwinter rock-opera.

Every sound slips along through a sensuous darkness, dripping with lethargic strings and moonbeam percussion. Each beat is a streetlight illuminating the murky way through a nighttime city. The record is justified through post-rock Novocain grooves alone. These syrupy phrases stretch on past the sunrise and into tomorrow evening’s revelries.

The album will be available March 6 on Catbird Records.