Nosaj Thing - Continua (LP) - Clear Vinyl

Nosaj Thing has always made music that feels like the hour after midnight, when the city quiets and small details jump out of the dark. Continua sits comfortably in that pocket. Released on 28 October 2022 via LuckyMe, it’s the most spacious and settled record Jason Chung has put his name to, and it rewards you for leaning in. The LA producer came up through the Low End Theory era and has been refining a certain smoky elegance since Drift in 2009. This time the lines are cleaner, the colours deeper, and the pulse unhurried, like he’s taken stock of the past decade and decided to let every element breathe.

You can hear that patience right away in the way drums tuck into the sub, not pushing so much as gliding. Nosaj has always had a gift for negative space, and Continua makes a case for it as a central instrument. Pads bloom, then recede. Melodies flicker like passing streetlights. There’s restraint, but it never tips into polite wallpaper. It still carries that warehouse hush the LA beat scene made famous, just rendered in high definition.

The collaborations are picked with a curator’s care. Julianna Barwick’s voice on Blue Hour is a small miracle, lifting the track without crowding it. Her airy harmonies become part of the synth bed, as if the song was designed around her breath. It’s the sort of moment you expect to hear once and then miss for the rest of the album, but the mood lingers. Even the instrumentals feel sung, shaped by a calm confidence that has nothing to prove. If you remember how Home threaded Toro y Moi’s vocal through a ghostly fog back in 2013, you’ll recognise the same soft focus here, just with a wiser ear for tone.

What sets Continua apart is its flow. Nosaj has sequenced this one like a long exhale. The tension never spikes too violently, yet you’re not left drifting. Little production ticks keep you awake. A clipped hi-hat pattern that sits just behind the beat. An almost tactile low end that pulls like undertow. He reaches for a palette that’s familiar to fans of Parallels, but the palette is organised with a designer’s precision. It’s easy to imagine him in a dark room tweaking a decay tail by half a second until the chord sits exactly where he wants it.

LuckyMe is a good home for this phase of his work. The label’s been a conduit for producers who like to bend club music toward the cinematic, and Continua feels aligned with that lineage. It has club DNA, sure, but it reads more like night-driving music. Play it while cutting across the West Gate at odd hours or rolling home through suburban streets when everyone’s asleep. It’s music that respects silence and gives your thoughts a soundtrack rather than a lecture.

On vinyl the sense of space really comes alive. This is a record that loves a quiet room and a good pair of speakers, and the low end is warm without getting swampy. If you’ve been hunting for Nosaj Thing vinyl for the listening chair rather than the dancefloor, this will live on your turntable for weeks. The album’s pacing even suits the side break, which is not something you can say about every modern electronic release. If you’re crate digging in a Melbourne record store or browsing vinyl records Australia wide, keep an eye out for Continua vinyl. It’s the sort of late night essential that goes missing from the bins fast, and it’s a tidy entry point if you’re looking to buy Nosaj Thing records online or to round out a run of Nosaj Thing albums on vinyl.

There’s a quiet confidence to the whole project that feels earned. Nosaj Thing has spent years learning how to say more with fewer sounds, and Continua is the proof. It’s not a flashy record, but it’s one you’ll keep returning to, especially when the house is still and the lights are low. Put it on, let it roll, and you’ll find details you missed the first time. That’s the promise in the title. Things continue, breathe, and evolve, and somehow the night feels a little friendlier for it.