Fulton Lights

Album Review

Operating under the group name Fulton Lights, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Spencer Goldman turns in a contemplative set of art songs as his debut CD. The tempos are glacial, the keyboard-based arrangements poking along to beats so slow they can be counted. Goldman is fond of swelling organ notes and softly played acoustic and electric piano chords, with strings adding accents here and there. His near-falsetto, near-whispered voice mutters lyrics largely concerned with urban alienation and philosophical ruminations. Actually, he shares many of his interests — time and breathing, for example — with Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. But the plodding, soporific Fulton Lights is not likely to be a multi-million seller. Happily, Goldman's cloudy narrator (or somebody) comes to a state of becalmed contentment by the end; "Breathe In, Breathe Out," the last song with lyrics, begins "And then/Just like that/He fell in love with the city/Inexplicably." Maybe that's a false happy ending, however, like Winston Smith coming to love Big Brother at the end of 1984 after being tortured.