The Soft Moon, “Black” (Captured Tracks)
New music from The Soft Moon (the alter ego of multi-instrumentalist and producer Luis Vasquez), ahead of new full-length, “Deeper”, due March 31 on Captured Tracks. You can pre-order the album here.
Where previous output largely worked within the grey scale of post-punk and gothic new wave, “Black” is shot through with bursts of obsidian. Dark rumblings of the kind of late-80s, dancier (but no less menacing for it – think early Ministry and Skinny Puppy) industrial heard also in new bands like LA’s great Youth Code. The track opens with a throbbing bassline and martial drum tone that grows closer like a descending fog. No cat paws here, however- more like an army of Terminator machines from the year 2029 – the song bursting through with peals of air-raid siren synthesizers and the repeated phrases “I don’t care what you say/live life my own way” and “I don’t care what they say/live in life your own way” (or something to that affect). This kind of thing can easily devolve into pantomimed angry disaffection, but the quality of the arrangements and the urgency of it all makes this a very strong single.