Room 205 Presents The Soft Moon
With aberrant enthusiasm, we welcome The Soft Moon to Room 205 with their opening performance of “Parallels,” the second single from their self-titled debut album.
Director Otto Arsenault captures these San Francisco-based neo-post-punks as they’re only meant to be seen – dazed, hazed and out of phase. As purveyors of the emerging post-apocalyptic sound, The Soft Moon has taken influence from early San Francisco based avant-garde bands such as Chrome, Units and Minimal Man. Created by Luis Vasquez in 2009 as a means to explore music on a more visceral level, he channels both his punk upbringing and Afro-Cuban heritage to sculpt dystopian soundscapes for a new generation of torn romantics. With bassist Justin Anastasi, drum machine and synth programmer Damon Way and visual artist Ron Robinson, the band’s cataclysmic delivery makes audiences contemplate the deeper aspects of the primal self through weeping guitar leads, cutting bass lines, haunting vocals, icy synths, motorik beats and mind-bending visuals.
In this opening performance of “Parallels”, Ron Robinson’s 3D maps and rapid- fire light projections take shape against abstract sculptures, while repetitive symbology and selective pixel degradation visually complement the band’s haunting atmospherics.
Special thanks to set designer Tamarra Younis and editor Sophia Rubio for the harmonious marriage of their talents with the band’s vision in this episode.
Look for the second and third video installments with The Soft Moon on May 9th and 16th.
