Picture the parts of a club that the can lights don’t reach. The darkened nooks and crannies where under-aged kids sneak beers, where tired dancers go to make out, where sly, knowing glances are exchanged in the shadows. Leveret‘s LP Action at a Distance finds them all here.

In an act of electronic mastery, this self-described synth-art band from Portland, Maine manages to play with all sorts of everyday noises, turning them into catchy, eerie beats. Produced in their hometown with Acadia Recording, you get AOL log-in noises at the beginning of “Let’s Communicate” to coughing at the beginning of “Grandfather’s Axe” to the thunderstorm at the beginning of “Nefariously”.

“Interludium” is far and away my favorite song on the record.  The sound of crickets builds like a day coming to an end as the sun goes down and the song becomes increasingly dark. Throughout every track there is a common thread of dark tension, like snapshot images of bleeding makeup and the edgy underside of some seedy club in a bad part of town. “Nefariously” does a particularly good job of capturing that atmosphere, sounding like some drunk person is in the middle of stumbling out of the club to pass out in an alley way.

By no means are you put at ease listening to this music. It is experimental in a way that does not always translate into easy listening, the music creating some sinking feeling as if your night out is about to go sour. “Little Dream Song” starts out as breezy  and acoustic but quickly ups the pace with frantic beats that you feel like you must dance to. The final track “Ghost” includes a girl hypnotically singing “You have nothing to fear now” and ends with a hollow echo possibly expressing that the worst has just occurred. There is a really powerful sound here on Action at a Distance; just make sure you don’t end up acting out those vibes next weekend.