Work

After years on James Murphy’s taste-making DFA, the Brooklyn nu-disco duo Holy Ghost! make the jump to West End, the iconic, long-dormant New York disco label. It’s the perfect move: Their sleek, synth-streaked boogie is a direct descendant of records from artists like Larry Levan and Loose Joints that made West End famous in the late '70s. There’s a palpable throwback feel to Work’s rubbery arpeggios and flickering guitar accents, but the duo are hardly stuck in the past: “Nicky Buckingham” burnishes analog squiggles that sound unmistakably contemporary, and the production choices throughout—particularly on the effervescent “My Happy House”—feel remarkably fresh. The album is the sound of a pair of disco lovers working through their influences and coming up with something genuinely original.