Luis Vasquez is back with a new Soft Moon album, recorded at the appropriately-named studio Hate in Italy. And whether it was the location, the atmosphere or simply a bolt of inspiration, the month-old Deeper is one of his sharpest releases yet. At heart, Deeper still has Soft Moon’s characteristic darkness, and the same bleak outlook that brought to hideous life the heaviest songs from the Cure, Depeche Mode and Bauhaus, as well as subterranean efforts from a host of early 80s Euro minimal wavers. But Vasquez has developed a better sense of balance now, and Deeper somehow inhabits a tiny space between melody and desolation that you might have forgotten existed. This is rarely explored territory, and he’s a brave man to go into that night alone—but then again, that’s surely where he feels most at home.
Wed., April 29, 9 p.m., 2015
