The Soft Moon – Deeper

Once looking like an heir apparent to Trent Reznor's seething world of industrial dystopia, Luis Vasquez sadly finds himself starting to tread water on his third LP under the Soft Moon moniker. 

Reznor took a good five years to shake off his enthrallment with early 80s English new wave, and from the OMD-recalling swallow dives of Wasting, to Inward's notably abrasive nods to the likes of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire (see also: the angst-ridden fizz and sputter of Wrong), Vasquez hasn't yet achieved the same.

Although this is certainly a tasteful pallette to magpie from, nothing on Deeper suggests that Vasquez is doing any more than wallowing in these easily overpowering tropes. Worse still, whereas debut The Soft Moon and 2012's Zeroes were capable of exhilarating jolts to the senses, Deeper does away with much of the high energy stuff, focusing more on slow-burning self-exploration that, though honourably intended, can sound like an artist in danger of being eclipsed.