Dubby musical explorations don’t require a full payload of bass. Nudge isn’t strictly dub by any means, but the group’s slow-burning electro-acoustic tracks often have that billowy feel associated with shacks-turned-studios in Jamaica. On their fourth album, the band plays with ambient sound and space and abuses delay pedals to create textured, coldly mesmerizing music. Dark tones and unraveling narratives ground these often buoyant tracks. “Two Hands” stretches out hushed drums and stringy guitar, later floating off into a sea of muted organ, bass tones and Honey Owens’ far-away crooning. “Burns Blue” has a sinister-yet-breezy swagger, while “Dawn Comes Light” slowly crescendos as a spark of a guitar line turns into a conflagration of noise that consumes itself. Organic and ever-evolving, this music is anything but audio wallpaper.

Listen: “Two Hands”

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