Category:
Rock / Roots

Try if you like:
Melissa Nadler, Palace Brothers

•   This Is The Early Game
•   Sway

Castanets are one of the bands you can consistently call “compelling” and not get slapped for being pretentious. They drone and rage, often with spiritual ends in mind, but are never wasting time with cliché or self-importance. In The Vines continues a catalog of daring and at times awesome scope.

 

There is a darker tone to the searching here, driven by the year main man Ray Raposa had, a depressing journey through sadness, a mugging and some existential wandering. The intimacy of wanting to share that experience, plus provide himself with a little reminder that all will be well makes this a powerful release. As usual, Raposa invites as many people in to help out as he does styles. Ranging from noise to pop, and helped along by members of Vanishing Voices and Shaky Hands, “In The Vines” feels hermetic and expansive. “Rain Will Come,” “Strong Animal,” “This is The Early Game” among others draw inspiration from Hindu fable and a personal year from hell.  Another powerful track is “Night Is When You Can Not See;” like that song, Raposa has come through a darkness and lived to tell, to prove ballads that are harrowing and hopeful, and, like life, open-ended.