In this latest album from The Soft Moon, we see the man in the moon, Luis Vasquez, opening himself up emotionally for all to see. Deeper is the result of intense self-reflection and emotional exploration triggered by the voluntary isolation imposed on himself during the writing process.

The tracks typically consist of a penetratingly persistent electro beat over the melancholy drawl of post-punk. It is strikingly apparent that during the production of the Deeper, Vasquez was regularly frequenting Berlin, because the album absolutely reeks of the place. The metallic percussion and distorted vocals give the songs a rather industrial feel, but don’t let that detract from the fact that this is a very emotional record.

Lyrically, this record is hardly cryptic. The song titles themselves are glaring indicators of the content; ‘Black’, ‘Wrong’, ‘Desertion’, ‘Without’ – these single-word titles are bleak and so are the songs. At first listen it appears as though the vocals are intended to be slightly faded and in the background, but you soon realise that despite this they carry with them a purposive lyrical content that touches heavily on themes of existentialism and depression – this is seen on the track ‘Feel’ in which Vasquez repeats over and over again the question “Why are we alive?”.

It is difficult not to draw comparisons with Joy Division when discussing The Soft Moon, but the eclectic arrangement of piercing synth effects as heard on ‘Black’ and the reliance on his particular style of electronic music fused with post-punk contributes to an eerily hypnotic sound that firmly holds its own in the contemporary scene.

It would be nice to end on a light note but Vasquez leaves no room for light in the chillingly dark euphoria of Deeper.

 

Sam Fenell