The Soft Moon may have began as the bedroom project of San Francisco’s Juan Velasquez — a producer’s melding of bleak Morricone-style film music and nasty punk-addled No Wave like Suicide — but it’s since evolved into a vicious living beast. To wit, last year’s Zeros LP is a brutal darkwave dream powered by a highly aggressive undercurrent. The album’s songs absolutely slay on the road, where Vasquez shreds and howls at the front of a five-piece band while projections flicker over and swirl around the ensemble. The video for “Die Life” captures all of this intensity and artistry quite perfectly, depicting the Soft Moon in black and white, surrounded by static-blasting televisions while they play furiously. Whether they’re attempting to exorcise demons from their instruments or summon devils with them is unclear, but something gnarly is happening and we should all sleep with one eye open when Vasquez comes to town. Speaking of, the band hit the road yesterday and have announced a sizeable run of dates here and abroad stretching all the way into April.
The Soft Moon tour dates:
January 9 – Cambridge, MA @ T.T. The Bears *
January 10 – Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar *
January 12 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
January 13 – Columbus, OH @ Double Happiness *
January 14 – Lexington, KY @ Al’s Bar *
January 15 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 *
January 16 – Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge *
January 17 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook *
January 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar *
January 19 – Hamden, CT @ The Outer Space *
January 20 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
March 5 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Beauty Bar
March 7 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
March 10 – Denton, TX @ 35 Denton (Denton Fest)
March 12 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald´s
March 13 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 14 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 18 – Kansas City, KS @ Riot Room
March 20 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
March 21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
March 29 – Aarhus, Denmark @ Atlas
March 30 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen
April 2 – Helsinki, Finland @ Kuudes Linja
April 6 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Meet Factory
April 7 – Budapest, Hungary @ A38
April 9 – Ljubljana, Slovenia @ K4
April 10 – Rome, Italy @ Circolo degli Artisti
April 11 – Milan, Italy @ Elita Milano Design Week Festival
April 12 – Bologna, Italy @ Covo
April 13 – Padova, Italy @ Loop / Bastione Alicorno
April 14 – Dijon, France @ Consortium
April 15 – Paris, France @ Trabendo
April 16 – London, England @ Islington Academy
April 17 – Amsterdam, Holland @ Melkweg
April 19 – Lille, France @ Le Grand Mix
April 20 – Amiens, France @ La Lune des Pirates
April 28 – Austin, TX @ Austin Psych Fest
* w/ Majical Cloudz
