La Luz - It's Alive
Label.........................: Hardly Art
Genre.........................: Indie
StoreDate.....................: Oct-15-2013
Source........................: CDDA
Grabber.......................: Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoding Scheme...............: Lame 3.98.4 V0 VBR Joint-Stereo
Size..........................: 55.82 MB
Total Playing Time............: 33:40
Release Notes:
SeattleÆs La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small trailer
on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable ôno-AC-in-the-vanö
summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of coolness isnÆt
about distance or affect; itÆs a mood, andùsue me, but IÆm about to
totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about this music vibrates to
the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows. So yeah, that kind
of cool.
Still, La LuzÆs live shows, more than most these days, are about
connection. ItÆs evident that the four ridiculously talented ladies on
stage are not only playing music with each other, but for each other.
And they engage their audience as well. Like a proper punk bandùwhich
they are notù they give you shit for not dancing. They convey a gritty
self-possession, a sense that theyÆve been there and back again. And,
like the expert, but seemingly effortless, surf licks and meandering
bass lines that rise and fall throughout their songs, their mocking is
playful and dreamy and disarming enough to get most of the crowd (and
sometimes the keyboard player) dancing down the center line of a soul
train.
But as any half-assed Freudian will tell you, there can be no meaningful
connection without first weathering some dark and lonely times. Here
comes the chilly part: What makes La Luz stand outùand stand out
fastùthe band has only been playing together for a year and people took
notice almost immediatelyùis that this is a band that embodies that most
elusive slant on the human condition: longing, and the fleeting relief
that tags alongside deep desire.
In Spanish, La Luz means ôlightö and thatÆs the perfect thing to evoke
when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction.
But lift out most any lyricùwhich is a good excuse to give a closer
listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the
bandÆs signatureùand youÆll find that the aches and pains of love and
loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promiseùall this
is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like
the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.
Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record ItÆs
Alive û the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face û with their friend
and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie
chords of ôSure As Springö, the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album,
the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and
bending as the terrain shifts. On ôWhat Good Am I?ö, the lead vocals,
and the swirl of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of
Mazzy StarÆs misty-eyed super hit. Smack in the middle is the title
track. ôItÆs Aliveö is a jangly rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of
ooohs, and a marauding narrative that nails down the misty logic of the
rest of the album. Two instrumentals, ôSunstrokeö and ôPhantom
Feelingsö, showcase the bandÆs beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly
between the chilled out heartache that surrounds them.
In October, SeattleÆs Hardly Art will release the sum of these tracks:
ItÆs Alive
Tracklisting
01. Sure As Spring 2:23
02. All The Time 2:48
03. Morning High 4:05
04. What Good Am I? 3:51
05. Sunstroke 1:32
06. It's Alive 3:37
07. Big Big Blood 3:09
08. Call Me In The Day 3:19
09. Pink Slime 2:23
10. Phantom Feelings 2:20
11. You Can Never Know 4:13
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