Non-Jamaican reggae has spawned some engaging hybrids – the Specials, the Clash, Fat Freddy’s Drop – but this quartet from Queens, New York, stay devotedly close to the languid but edgy sound of late 1960s rocksteady. Their debut album is shadowed by tragedy, lead singer Dan Klein having succumbed to neurological disease shortly after its completion. His keening falsetto is at the heart of the record, a set of elegant, tortured love songs that occasionally betray Klein’s anguish: “Pretending that I’m fine/ I’m lying all the time.” The production, by New York’s Ticklah, faithfully recreates the cavernous, minimalist sound of Studio One, with walking bass lines and larkish vocal harmonies recalling trios like the Paragons. Sadly, it’s likely to be a one-off.
