Dirty Beaches is the sound of waves against a picturesque and putrid shore, the silent rumble of a Chevy as it speeds by in slow motion. Sparse but condensed, relentlessly edging forward: this is music for locomotive travel, for racing your weary motorcycle through neon archways and into dusky tunnels. The man behind Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai; solo performer, sound-smith, and trans-Pacific nomad.

Born in Taiwan, Hungtai has made Toronto, Honolulu, Montreal, and Vancouver his homes. Like Bo Didley or minimalist synth provocateurs Suicide, Dirty Beaches’ compositions are not so much stripped down as refined to their essence. Drum loops entrance, Hungtai’s croon enchants, and the yearning melodies draped overtop belie as much a sense of haunting mystery as they do romanticism and wry humor.

Alex Zhang Hungtai was born in Taiwan, but he doesn't have a home. Moving from place to place throughout his life due to a fractured family, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter sometimes felt adrift. In a recent phone interview, he described a stint selling real estate in China during his mid-twenties as "a weird displacement upon displacement." And that same feeling can be ascribed to his music, which layers coats of lo-fi grime over tracks that sound like relics from the early days of rock 'n' roll. Many of his songs come off like Elvis Presley relics recorded through the wall of a skeezy motel.

Hungtai started pursuing music seriously about five years ago after moving to Montreal, and has released a few 7" singles leading up to his debut LP, Badlands, out March 29 on Zoo Music.