Vive la Void, "Death Money" (Sacred Bones)

As half of Moon Duo, keyboardist Sanae Yamada has helped to forge a cool-browed strain of electronic rock that's ideal for zipping down the Autobahn at breathtaking speeds. They've perfected a kind of streamlined, monomaniacal synth/guitar/drum-machine attack that's the aural equivalent of highway hypnosis—and in the process, they've somehow achieved enough popularity to play festivals around the world, including Bumbershoot.

Yamada's solo project, Vive la Void (great name), takes the foot off the gas a bit and goes for a more hushed, eerie approach to electronic songcraft. In Suicide-al terms, it's less "Ghost Rider" and "Rocket USA," more "Cheree" and "Girl." Her debut self-titled album under this handle is aswirl with oxblood synth atmospheres and beautifully melancholy melodies. These tracks are aching to be placed in a neo-giallo film or to fill a mixtape devoted to enveloping, spacey keyboard studies with ectoplasmic vocals.

"Death Money" sounds like the title of a Swans song, but it's actually a languidly bumping electro-pop tune swathed in ethereal drones that somehow cast a sad yet angelic tenor to proceedings. If Vive la Void has a club banger, this is it. With a little pitch adjustment, "Death Money" could segue well into Tubeway Army's "Me, I Disconnect from You" in a DJ set. High praise, indeed.

Vive la Void performs at Neumos on Sunday, December 9 with the Soft Moon and Hide.