Although this album invokes omnipresent vacancy, Castanets breathe glimmers of warmth that permeate their music with a red glow. Cathedral masterfully demonstrates juxtapositions in traditional and experimental music. Lead singer Raymond Raposa has said the album began as a novel, which makes sense because of the imagery the sound invokes, along with shifts in emotional tone.

Castanets establish a hauntingly barren tone at the beginning, thanks to menacing saxophone and organ, plodding tempo, and vocals reminiscent of (and how appropriately) those I’d imagine hearing in a spacious cathedral.

The album’s first segue, Just To Break Free From A Hundred Families, precedes the relatively fast-paced Industry and Snow, featuring vocal cadence similar to Modest Mouse’s Tiny Cities Made of Ashes. Peculiar squelches and harmonica decorate the song’s background. What follows is the beautifully dirge-like You Are The Blood, a song reminiscent of The Black Heart Procession. Deep sax returns along with frenetic woodblock and didgeridoo-esque sounds.

Castanets often enjoy having sans vocals sections in their songs, as if they believe (as much as I do) that instrumental sound invokes as much emotion/wisdom as the voice. Three Days, Four Nights is a swell display of Raposa’s voice joined by Bridget DeCook’s mellifluous vocals carefully complementing each word. Raposa sounds like a wiser, ethereal Gobo Fraggle.

No Light To Be Found (Fare Thee Faith, The Path is Yours) contains elements similar to chains dragging on the ground and a rusty fence opening and closing from wind. Such unconventional sounds seem like ghost work. As You Do is comparably less haunting, thanks to amiable acoustic guitar and bright, wavering synth.

An additional segue, Cathedral 3 (Make Us New), sounds like it’s played backwards. The segues are interesting because they create a transformative effect, like when Bill & Ted travel through time in a phone booth during their excellent adventure.

We Are The Wreckage contains solo DeCook vocals over front porch guitar, slide guitar, and piano appropriate for a saloon. The song is a good example of Castanets’ skill with extremely slow tempo, like Low or Galaxie 500. Such tempos invoke a feeling akin to riding a Ferris wheel or creating the perfect roasted marshmallow.

Cathedral 4 (The Unbreaking Branch and Song) boosts the record’s vivacity with a drum machine and sparkling guitar lick. Raposa sings, “Our spirits can shift in two different ways, into each other or into our days.” The song’s momentum ceases abruptly to mark the album’s end. “There is no path in our flight,” an interesting take on the infinite directions each person’s life can lead, is the album’s final lyrical thought.