Altered Zones

By Andy French

MP3: The Soft Moon: "Breathe The Fire"

MP3: The Soft Moon: "Tiny Spiders"

Luis Vasquez crept out of the shadows and onto the Captured Tracks roster last year with two singles, each introducing a defining facet of his sound. “Breathe The Fire” tore through stacks of lost post-punk 7 inches, wrapping haunted pop inflections into a humid propulsion of bass and razor-sharp guitar clang. “Parallels”, meanwhile, refashioned instrumental krautrock obsessions with a dark smear of '80s sheen and a flash of teeth. The Soft Moon’s self-titled debut balances between these two poles while completely eschewing categorization. After beginning with the neon black smash of “Breathe The Fire”, it quickly grows into something darker and more sinister than we might expect from the Cap Tracks stable, even taking into account label founder Mike Sniper's own brand of post-punk pathos in Blank Dogs.

Vasquez has chosen his palette well, piecing together skeletal instrumentals that whisper with hints of remorse. His songs streak the windows with tears and rain and blood, then flog themselves with the pained cries of synthesizers pleading for mercy. I've found myself returning to the LP over and over again these past few months, and each listen peels back another layer of the Vasquez mystery. The album is far more than the sum of its singles; it’s a noir odyssey that reveals itself song by song until you are far too deep in Vasquez's pocket to get free.

The Soft Moon LP is out now on Captured Tracks