Sweet Electra duo isn’t bound by Earth — or each other

“WHEN WE ABANDONED EARTH,” Sweet Electra (Sweet Electra)

Nardiz Cooke and Giovanni Escalera might be lost without each other, but they’re also lost together as Sweet Electra.

The New-York-by-way-of-Guadalajara duo creates a peculiar style of ambient pop that is both aimless and inviting. Vocalist Cooke is as inclined to sigh and moan — often with an echo effect — as she is to sing lyrics, and producer/programmer Escalera does his own electronic thing with apparently little concern about momentum or direction.

There’s disconnection between the two and even individual dissonance as her overdubbed vocals might follow different arcs and his arrangements might feature industrial effects separating from a grainy cadence.

If nothing else, the release works as a curiosity. For example, Cooke’s blissed-out vocals on “A Feeling” soar apart from his clanging tricks and domineering bass, and his messy work on “Love You More” likewise does little to reel in her trippy delivery.

Even when she’s tethered to a tune, fenced in as she is by his heavy-handed construction of “Backyard” or responding with groans to his thick electronic pulses on “I Am,” the nature of these songs constantly changes, the ebb and flow of Escalera’s craft reworking the shape of the sound the way the tide reworks the shore.

Although “When We Abandonded Earth” rarely solidifies thanks to Escalera’s overindulgence, the atmosphere is marked by a few signatures, including Cooke’s wily femininity, periodic bursts of frenetic drums and thick, humming bass. Plus the tone is serviceably varied, ranging from the rock push of “Give Up” to the meditation of “Te Fuiste.”

It’s an unusual experience — neither background music nor foreground music — yet it can work into mid-level consciousness if given the chance.