

Australian quartet Surprise Chef’s music sounds like someone reverse-engineered a foggy, seductive sample from an underground rap record to give you the full track of source material—a sleight of hand that feels both uncanny and totally of its time. The best stuff here—the Latin-tinged “Leg Day,” the Meters-ish “Frog Technique,” “Get Well Soon”—is perfectly undercooked, light enough to hang at the periphery but compelling enough to guide the mood. (In a strange way, the band’s best comparison is something like the crossover classical composer Philip Glass, whose stroke of genius lay in elevating material that in the baroque and classical era had served as background to the foreground.) Fans of Khruangbin, Stones Throw Records, subdued ’70s soundtrack music, and anything lately labeled “chill,” take note—your new afternoon delight is here.