Let’s call the The Soft Moon’s last album, Zeros, out for what it really was: evil. It was a dark, mechanical slab of utterly brilliant noise that spat in the face of conventional music. The follow-up, Deeper, is every bit as sinister but it’s built with a warmth and earnestness not found before.
“Inward” and “Black”, which open Deeper, are blatant red herrings and very much in the tone and sound of Zeros. “Black” especially is a cold, hypnotic march into nothingness devoid of any soul. But that’s (mostly) the only part of the “old” Soft Moon you’ll find here. From there, shit gets real.
“Far”, which follows, is like a completely different band. Luis Vasquez steps away from the effects-laden vocals in order to really be heard on this one and throughout Deeper. The metamorphosis continues on “Wasting” which begins like some epic Brad Fiedel-inspired theme from 1986’s Fright Night. If Zeros was like an updated version of The Hunger soundtrack then Deeper has decadent late ’80’s written all over it with “Wasting” sporting an almost 2 minute jam/bass drone before Vasquez even begins to sing.
“Wrong” is filled with bleeps and boops (Obviously those are technical terms) as Vasqez’s tone goes almost sultry amongst the tribal programmed beats and “Feel” has such an organic feel despite the looped bass and drums as Vasquez asks repeatedly, “Why are we alive?”
But that’s not to say the “old” The Soft Moon has disappeared completely. Whether it’s Vasquez losing himself in the distorted howls of “I Can’t See Me Face” during “Feel” or the sullen piano and echoed vox that drive “Without You”, Deeper isn’t necessarily a new The Soft Moon, just a better one.
Deeper is out now through Captured Tracks and can be ordered here. Be sure to catch The Soft Moon on tour this Spring (They’ll be at Allston’s Great Scott on April 10th!) and stay up-to-date through their Official Facebook page.