First Light's Freeze

On 'First Light’s Freeze', Raymond Raposa strays a bit from the David Lynch-ian quality of 'Cathedral' to something a bit more welcoming. While still supplying plenty of creepy and strange moments, Raposa has incorporated some lightness and dreaminess into his off-kilter style of ‘avant-country’ and folksy, Americana-tinged dirges.

The album opens with 28 seconds of hypnotic ambient noise before launching into “Into the Night”. “Into the Night” focuses mainly on Raposa’s soft, weary voice as it weaves with a slight echo around a lightly strummed guitar and a soft background hum. From the restraint of “Into the Night,” Raposa segues into the bouncy riff of “A Song is Not the Song of the World,” which is strangely reminiscent of the opening chords of the White Stripes' “We Are Going to be Friends.” “Whoa”, you think. “This is kind of rockin'.'' Well, don’t be fooled. There are some genuine headboppers on this album (see also “Good Friend, Yr Hunger” and “No Voice Was Raised,”) though they're the kind that you could picture being played at a Halloween party in a cemetery attended solely by the ghosts of old war generals, gold miners, and the like.

But in no way do you need to possess a macabre soul to enjoy First Light’s Freeze. Raposa is an intriguing songwriter who will draw in fans of all sorts with his lyrics and the pictures they paint.