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Castanets' Ray Raposa talks about his City of Refuge album, plays the Hi-Dive tonight 11/17
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Castanets' Ray Raposa.
After spending a good part of the last year in New York City, I realized how much of a western girl I really am. Born and raised in Denver, I have no connection to the mountains, or horseback riding, or things that typify the Colorado experience to outside observers. But that isn’t what the west means to me. What I was longing for was the western culture of roadside Americana.
When I say Americana, I don’t mean the consumer kitchiness of the Jackalope or the daunting expanse of gloried gas station super-stores peddling econo-sized bags of beef jerky. I mean the feeling of pulling into a Holiday Inn in Lawrence, Kansas, and seeing the deteriorating round sphere of the Holidome, or laying on a scratchy polyester bedspread under antlers mounted above the headboard at a Best Western in Durango.
Castanets latest release, City of Refuge, feels just like this to me. Maybe it’s because Ray Raposa, the man behind Castanets, hid himself away in a motel in the small Nevada town of Overton for three weeks to create these 15 tracks of desolate perfection. I felt transported to the empty spaces listening to Raposa’s wobbling voice, his verses dragging like tired feet along worn carpeted hallways as faint conversations of strangers carry from the next room. Songs like “Shadow Valley” and “High Plains 2” carry the crackle of an old television set, capturing the sorrow of a man alone under the florescent bluish light in a bare and foreign room.
Raposa was nice enough to answer a few questions about this great record via the magic of the internet. He also plays tonight at the Hi-Dive, so be sure to check this amazing show (info below.) Enjoy!
Bree Davies: Have you been back to Overton, NV or the motel since your stay?
Ray Raposa: I haven't. There wouldn't be any good reason for me to. I haven't been near Nevada in a while.
BD: I know you may have some special guest appearances along your tour in support of City of Refuge. Anyone from the album who will be joining you?
RR: Maybe in some of the cities where those folks live. But not for any long run, no. Any guests are gonna be town specific.
BD: Would you consider City of Refuge a concept album? Did you set out to make this record as a creative whole, or did it begin as an idea for a song?
RR: I wouldn't call it that. The approach in writing and sequencing the songs wasn't any different than it was on the other albums, so if this is a concept record, they all are, and I would hate for that to be my lot in life.
BD: How do you feel about these songs intertwining with the rest of your catalog in a live setting?
RR: Oh, they'll do fine. Most of them have been in the set for over a year now anyway. The song choices from night to night work with their own logic, nothing forced. Every trip is the greatest hits trip. A record is usually out of (my) mind by the time the tour comes around, ya’ know?
Catch Castanets with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Yuzo Neito and the hand that Rocks the Dreidel tonight, November 17th, at the Hi-Dive in Denver. Tickets are $10 including service charges.
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