The Soft Moon’s Well-Worn Goth Slippers
The Soft Moon & Girl Tears Live @ Barboza
April 24, 2015
By Frida Ray
Barboza was packed to the gills for last Friday’s early show, as a sea of Seattle’s best night urchins created a late 80’s goth atmosphere in full regalia as L.A.-based openers Girl Tears took the stage.
I was not originally enthralled by Girl Tears’ online offerings, so I was pleasantly surprised by their performance and live sound. The crowd was still filling in during the set, but Girl Tears drew plenty attention with their slick pop-punk, ironed hair and Axe cologne. They were all L.A. and the crowd enjoyed it.
Spell binding backing tracks pulsed through the venue as The Soft Moon hit the stage. The audience was already entranced.
I was content early in the set when the Oakland band played their excellent single, “Black,” a heavy, seemingly NIN influenced track with thick synths shrouded in Luis Vasquez’s dark vocals that cast a solid spell all on their own.
Vasquez continued to enrapture the crowd with deep pulsing beats, conjuring images of obvious influences: Siouxie Sioux moments gave way to Peter Murphy vibes, only to be eclipsed by the hollow tones of Sister’s of Mercy in delay laden vocal punches.
Truthfully, there’s nothing exceptionally new in Vasquez’s trademark sound. That said, The Soft Moon tread a well-worn path in goth slippers, but they do it well.