Castanets finish new album, despite setbacks

“Let’s go outside, my dear, into the murderous night,” Castanets founder Ray Raposa sings ironically on his band’s last release, First Light’s Freeze. Shortly before completing the upcoming record, In the Vines, Raposa was mugged at gunpoint in front of his Brooklyn home. “I have had to halt production and/or writing and/or thinking about this album repeatedly due to actual, incapacitating depressions,” he stated.

Appropriately, In the Vines is based on a Hindu fable about inescapable fate. Even though the album is finally ready to hit shelves October 23, Raposa and company continue their struggle – recently in Tuscon, Ariz., somebody stole $5,000 of equipment from their tour van, while Raposa slept inside.

“All this after we had to fly our friend/drummer to the airport yesterday morning so he could go to the hospital,” stated the band’s MySpace, which also details instructions on how to help them through Paypal.

The current Castanets lineup includes Jana Hunter, Nonhorse (Vanishing Voice), Rafter Roberts, Nathan Delffs (Shaky Hands), Viking Moses and Matthew Houck (Phosphorescent). Chances are, they’ll still need help in October, so here is the tracklist for In the Vines:

1 – “Rain Will Come”
2 - “This Is The Early Game”
3 - “Westbound, Blue”
4 - “Strong Animal”
5 - “Sway”
6 - “The Fields Crack”
7 - “Three Months Paid”
8 - “The Night Is When You Can Not See”
9 - “Sounded Like a Train, Wasn't a Train”
10 - “And The Swimming”

Related links:
Asthmatic Kitty: Castanets
Castanets MySpace
Tucson Citizen: Guitars ripped off as folksinger snoozes in van

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