An album three years in the making, Fulton Lights's eponymous debut ventures into entirely different territory than its brainchild's previous engagements--namely, Maestro Echoplex and John Guilt. Though never of Andrew Goldman's projects prior to Fulton Lights could be deemed entirely "conventional," his latest offering transcends the earlier attempts at experimental songwriting, and also asserts his undeniable ability to soon rise to the highest ranks of the underground. Goldman calls on an enormous assortment of like-minded creators to lend hands to his project; former Dälek DJ Still gets some co-production credit, Aloha's T.J. Lipple, Jean Cook (of Ida and Beauty Pill), Dälek's Oktopus, and Karen Waltuch (collabs with Wilco and The Walkmen) are a few of the names in the talented ensemble that take Fulton Lights from an ambitious solo project to its fully-realized, living, breathing state. Centralized around what the press release calls "minimalist hip-hop, boom-bap" beats, the disparate elements of Fulton Lights coalesce to create something cosmopolitan, both in its inner-workings and its aural output. It's a city-fueled record, with noisy, vibrant soundscapes sounding as if pulled directly from a Brooklyn night. Multiple stringed instruments appear throughout, but the focus is Goldman's restrained, ethereal vocalizing and the basal drum beats. "Thank God For the Evening News," the sarcasm-drenched first song, balances orchestrated indie pop with a raw hip-hop backbone, while Goldman warns that skepticism is the only way of approaching our current state of affairs. "The Sound of the City" is the writer's cry for silence, an end to automation and industry even if for a brief moment, for the sake of hearing "the absence of the electric hum/and the sound of the wind blowing through empty city streets." New York City wears on you, apparently, as Goldman testifies throughout this record. Despite however much your emotions are tread on, though, there's that sense of infinity accompanying it, and it's translated to Fulton Lights's debut perfectly and poignantly. It shimmers throughout, and feels much, much more real than most things to have come out of the city's hip scene in quite some time.