Castanets

Details

Castanets and Phosphorescent play on Friday, Nov. 25

546-6300

www.thehotelutahsaloon.com

Hotel Utah

Related Content

• Castanets: Show Preview
  March 9, 2011
• Arthouse Movie Listings November 2-8
  November 2, 2011
• Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost -- A First Listen
  September 13, 2011
• Stream Julianna Barwick's Looping, Swooping New Album
  February 14, 2011
• How to Buy Artisanal Ice Cream
  September 22, 2010

More About

• Raymond Raposa
• Sufjan Stevens

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Anyone looking for something akin to Asthmatic Kitty founder Sufjan Stevens' full-blown orchestra pop will be sorely disappointed by Castanets' sophomore effort. Instead, Raymond Raposa plays "derailed psychedelic country," a spooky, dark-night-of-the-soul kind of Americana that's full of desultorily plucked guitars, marching drum-machine beats, and chaotic keyboard tangles. Lyrically, Raposa doesn't bother with silly little love songs; instead, he reaches for something grander and more abstract. According to the press notes, First Light's Freezeis about war and friendship, although you might be hard-pressed to make that out from the drowsily intoned words, save for "Dancing With Someone (Privilege of Everything)," on which Raposa murmurs, "I wanna get high on something/ Go dancing with someone/ Turn our backs to the battle." In the end, no matter what he's moaning about, Raposa is thoroughly engaging, mostly because he's able to construct a singular world worth climbing into. Much the way Stevens can.