La Luz. La Luz

Are you in a daydreamy kind of mood? Then I have just the right album for you (and any other time I might add). La Luz has released its self-titled album that in feel brings me back to an era that I wasn't the least bit interested in albums. They contained lots of songs I was not familiar with, so bored me instantaneously. Even 'Abbey Road' could not keep my attenttion past 'Come Together' on release day!

'La Luz' is an album that contains psychedelic songs of the soft kind. Songs that allow its listeners to decide for themselves whether they want to listen to them sober or under the influence. Not all modern psych albums are so less demanding, in that sense. 'La Luz' demands attention in another way. All the brilliant details woven into the songs. Here the band is very demanding. And rightly so, as 'La Luz' is a near brilliant album with every chance of becoming so once our relationship deepens and widens. I'm pretty certain it will. Albums can be a musical artform.

La Luz is a trio from Seattle. Shana Cleveland (guitar), Alice Sandahl (keyboard) and Lena Simon (bass) started to play together in 2012 and just released their fourth full length album. One of the features that immediately stands out, is the singing. The three ladies sing together in a, to all appearances, lazy way, giving the album that dreamy quality I started this review with. Of course the music follows mood of the singing in a perfect way.

Let's shine a light on 'I Won't Hesitate'. The singing is the female equivelant of '2.000 Light Years From Home' or a more modern example my favorite Warpaint song, 'Love Is To Die'. The bass playing has that laidback feel the bass on Air's 'Moon Safari' has, giving the song the air of a mid 60s to early 70s b-movie soundtrack. The drums are firm, while the guitar plays a nice rhythm part. It's when the details in the music come forward, it becomes clear how much attention was given to them. A little percussion, an extra keyboard note, an Indian sounding, modest, solo line.

Each song on 'La Luz' has these kind of surprises, making it so easy to get hooked on the album. This makes it hard to point to a favorite song, as they all have their fortés and moments that stand out. Even the obviously The Beatles inspired 'Spider House', the instrumental finishing touch of 'La Luz', sounds great, despite the over-obvious nod to the final song of side A of 'Abbey Road'. With that comment the final circle in this review just closed itself.

A lot of words for the few that could have sufficed: What a great album!

Wout de Natris