For an idea of how difficult Raymond Raposa’s music is to classify, take a look at all of the terms that have been used to describe him. Psychedelic folk, anti-folk and freak-folk are just three, and they only touch on part of what Raposa’s Castanets sound like.
With City of Refuge, Raposa somehow manages to make a less accessible album than his last effort, In the Vines. The album’s first three songs are creaking instrumentals featuring arrhythmic blips. Even with the vocals, “Prettiest Chain” is barely over two minutes, and its sparse guitar work and echoed vocals give it a haunted, faraway feeling. In fact, the whole album feels distant. No matter how close you nuzzle up to your speakers, it’ll always seem like you’re listening to Castanets through a wall.
For all its haunted atmospherics, City of Refuge is still charming. Raposa’s vocals lend the songs a weight in spite of the airy instrumentation, and just to give the album a much-needed shot of glee, Raposa provides one of the oddest, most inspired versions of the traditional “I’ll Fly Away” ever recorded.
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