Castanets

The core of the Castanets is the lyrical and musical talent of Raymond Raposa. The son of expatriate journalists, Raposa tested out of high school at the age of 15 and traveled the U.S. via Greyhound bus off and on for the next four years. This unusual educational experience spawned a musical vision that reflects a disquieting sub-strata of American life. Castanets create music that is epic and inspiring. From somber love ballads to haunted tales of frustrated redemption, the delivery is potent and devoid of cliche or sentimentalism. Echoes of the The Velvet Underground, No Neck Blues Band, and the delta harness a strain of ancient Americana that even today pulses through a subdivided and paved landscape; the result is avant-country. After the 2004 debut LP 'Cathedral' and a US tour with Wooden Wand and The Vanishing Voice, Raymond has just returned with 'First Light's Freeze' on the ever-wonderful Asthmatic Kitty label. The album possesses a dark mutant-country sound, infused with strands of free jazz and new wave - a late-seventies Nashville big-radio strut, hi-jacked by post-punk unravelers. The result is a beautiful mix of somber reflection, destination-unknown travelogue and subversive anti-war boogie, simultaneously flirting and dismantling "New Americana" venture capitalism.