One of the greatest nighttime albums ever made. A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular is Hooverphonic at their top-dollar best. A bit sad it’s their debut, as it means they only go down from here. Still, they had a ways to fall. Blue Wonder Power Milk is great in much of the same vein, though it replaces some of the wandering darkness with contentment.

Getting ahead of myself, though. ANSSS conveys all of my favorite imagery. Beats reverberate and sparkle through the dark city night like dim, glowing lights. Liesje Sadonius’s voice possesses no weight, blowing through every track like a cool breeze. At times she sounds ghostly and possessed, like on the anxious “Plus Profond.” Bubbling, subtly crescendoing background keyboards often submerge the album into a dark, unknown ocean. Near the album’s end, it nearly feels as if we’ve been taken into space as well through the lifting coos and fluttering flutes of “Innervoice.” Phenomenal production.

Hooverphonic don’t play by any kind of rule book, courageously adopting several different styles of the decade into their shady sea of sound: shoegaze on “Sarangi” that can compete with the best of Slowdive, and even drum & bass on “Plus Profond.” It’s varying means to the same end, never losing freshness and allure.

Just serene. I get lost in A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular every time, like a bath for my soul where no one can bother me. Portishead wish they were capable of such beauty.