soft black

Caged Animals · Underneath The Spell Caged Animals is the recording project of Jersey-born, Brooklyn-based, and potentially Canadian songwriter Vin Cacchione.   In the oughts' Vin was the leader of cult indie-rockers' Soft Black, which counted DIIV's Zachary Cole Smith as a band member.  He has since released three LP's under the Caged Animals banner.   Trading Soft Black's live-to-tape psychedelia for a meticulous, bedroom-born style, Caged Animals make soulful, character-driven pop for an increasingly digital time.   The live show is a family affair with a band comprised of Vin's sister Talya, partner   Magali Charron, and childhood friend Patrick Curry.   On their new record  Underneath The Spell , Caged Animals have crafted their first “band album” during the least band-friendly moment.    Although the recordings began in 2019, the project took a long pause when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and Vin and his fam...

(cover image by Neil Rough) DOWNLOAD: The Witching Hour STREAMING: The Witching Hour (artist portrait by Magali Charron) This is  The Witching Hour , the new album by Brooklyn's Soft Black.  It was recorded live in the studio by Daniel Schlett at Strange Weather in Brooklyn (DIIV, The Men, The War On Drugs). What you're about to hear is raw.  Ghostly crackles and stoned breaths litter it's 40 some-odd minutes of minor-key, gothic folk-rock.  While there are more than a few touchstones hinted at in the music, ranging from folk-noir to psychedelia, kraut-rock, and post-punk; The Witching Hour ultimately paints in it's own unique and dynamic greyscale. From the motorik drive of "Heaven Is A Place You Go" and "Midas Tongue" to the lilting Beatle-esque balladry of "Breathe Fire Pts. 1 & 2" The Witching Hour builds a universe of contrast.  A sound where empathy is raised in darkness and droning tension is released ...

"When the moon is a counterfeit Better find the one that fits" CS/DIGITAL

I stole from you I backed you into a corner I smiled at you So you could not detect my intentions I made you feel Like you were the mad one And while you were in this state of Genuine Self-Analysis and Temporary Insanity I continued at your apartment Until everything was gone

A face floats in the debris of faces An outsider walks among us now You can hear him at night Rustling through the opiate streets Uncertain of his latitude or atmosphere Plotting his revenge on smirking desperation Which brought him here An alien in this hostile country Where the cruel eyeballs of suspicious creatures condemn his strangeness and lacerate him from the shadows

awakening before the sun this april morning i opened my girlfriend's laptop and began researching the extinction events of the Cretaceous Period no more than an hour into my studies I realized I was wholly unable to leave the house so fearful was I that I retreated back into our bed pulling the thick down comforter over my head and lay there shivering and lonely awaiting asteroids in my solitude and feeling fragile against infinite destruction and regeneration but still hopeful for survival