Laced with field recordings and short interviews with young people, Darkstar's Foam Island mixes documentary techniques with electronic music to create a bittersweet portrait of the North of England. Economic inequality is the primary subtext, while the duo's inventive productions speak to electronic music's limitless expressive potential. "Stoke the Fire" frames political agency with hopeful house beats, "Pin Secure" seethes with icy desperation, and "Go Natural" weds falsetto R&B melodies to a minimalist blizzard of plucked strings. Summing up the mood, dissonant closer "Days Burn Blue" overflows with tone and feeling.