Local flâneur Joe McMurray is usually the twitch-tastic drummer for the saccharine lo-fi grunge outfit Walter TV; he’s also helped man the kit for acts like My Friend Wallis and Makeout Videotape. However, when left to his own idle devices, McMurray trades in his sticks for an MPC sampler and crafts profoundly recondite drone in Prostituotial with Chris Niemer, who helms a Roland synth anchored by a loop station and scores of effects pedals.

Somewhere in a dank East Van warehouse, the pairing birthed Prostitutorial I, a release comprised of surprisingly restrained and nuanced ambiance. Twenty-minute opener “I” progresses along a continuum of aridity and copiousness in its instrumentation, but never quite peaks the way you expect it might. Prostitutorial doesn’t seem too concerned with scaling any celestial heights or transporting listeners to an ethereal state of being.

A suitable reference point here might be Stellar Om Source or Oneohtrix Point Never, albeit far more subdued and minimal. The cloudy reverb of the brief coda “II” isn’t quite the soft come-down you want, but after the abrupt finish you understand that this is the point. Prostitutorial submit a soundtrack for our post lapsarian world as it heads deeper into pseudo-dystopic times. We’re not quite there yet, but this is what fills our ears while we wait on the cusp.