Whether it’s Hall & Oates, Pet Shop Boys or Daft Punk, history’s greatest dance music has always been made by two introspective weirdos. The Hamilton-based Junior Boys (producer Jeremy Greenspan and engineer Matt Didemus) continue the tradition on Big Black Coat (City Slang), their first effort in five years. It might just be this year’s best dance record.

Sounding like the score to a bleak seventies film set in Steel City, our two anti-heroes shield themselves against the elements and romantic rejection with keyboards, drum pads and break beats. Their lyrics warn against the pain—“baby don’t hurt me no more,” “baby don’t play with me” and “baby give up on it” are all frequent refrains. Though moments of blossoming love (“C’mon Baby”), glory (“Love Is A Fire”) and a killer glacial synth cover of Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love ...