The Soft Moon

Zeroes, the sophomore album from Luis Vasquez' Soft Moon never seemed like it quite made good on the promises of his early singles and debut. It was steeped in darkwave, doused in goth but it seemed like it needed a darker heart and maybe more acid in its veins. Well it seems that perhaps Vasquez agreed on that count. His third album, recorded in isolation and feeling every minute the better for it, is an ink black vortex of industrial hate that sounds as if Vasquez locked himself in a room and force fed his brain on a steady diet of Dario Argento films, Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus until he was in a proper state of dissociated euphoria and then pounded away at writing Deeper. It’s that NIN reference that feels strangely vital. Its hard to take an influence that's so steeped in a singular sound and still make it sound like a jumping off point rather than a pale imitation but lead single "Black" does just that, sounding like a recording with more teeth than Reznor's imbued his flagship project with in years. No disrespect, the man has a booming career in soundtracking, but sometimes its best to let the past go and let a new fleet of disaffected youth pick up the yoke. And if there was a lead rider in that pack, Vasquez certainly seems like the alpha of smudged, mechanical darkwave choked on hate. Deeper is about as close to the vein as he's cut yet and, personally, I'm glad to see a little blood spilled on this one.

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