Much like Ulterior from my first “I Read AP’s …..” post, The Soft Moon take goth to a new level. In the case of this San Franciscan band though, it’s as if The Cure went darker, more cold, and more mechanical after Pornography. And those lush vocals that Robert Smith provided? Gone, replaced with Luis Vasquez’s dark delivery.
The instrumental “It Ends” ironically begins Zeros signalling the oncoming aural apocalypse with a cacophony of programmed beats and synthesizers culminating with Vasquez’s heavy breathing at the end which, if you listen to by yourself alone in a dark house, will probably scare the crap out of you.
Vasquez’s breathy vocals enter in full on the dreamy “Machines” which, like most tracks on Zeros, uses words and lyrics as just another instrument to create an overall atmosphere during each sonic excursion The Soft Moon creates. At times, it’s as if the band was just completely inspired by The Cure’s “Burn” off of The Crow and decided to make an album out of it which is just fine by me (And a lot of other music lovers out there….).”Insides” is another experiment in exploring the dark underbelly of life as Justin Anastasi’s hypnotic bass playing makes Simon Gallup wish Robert Smith had never talked him into playing on a song called “Friday I’m In Love” after Disintegration came out and destroying his credibility. Anastasi’s hypnosis continues on into “Remember The Future” as Vasquez’s synth playing drives the song to a weird place. In a good way.
Then there’s “Die Life”, a sure winner for goth club anthem of the year and a song that has been on constant repeat on my Ipod. If there was any song on here that epitomizes what The Soft Moon is about it would be this one. Ominous, dark, and devoid of human emotion, “Die Life” is a mechanical attack on the senses. As far as sophomore albums go, you can’t get better than this one.
Zeros is out now. Buy it here if you dare. You’ve been sufficiently warned.
Grade: A