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Album Review

La Luz
It’s Alive Hardly Art Records

Article written by Ged M - Nov 26, 2013

The four piece recently survived a bad road traffic accident that destroyed their van, instruments and merch but fortunately left them with only bruises. Good news for them and for us, as their debut album confirms what their singles hinted at, that this is an essential new band. If you can’t contribute to the fund for getting them on their feet again post-accident (you can donate here) buying the record will definitely be a good move, benefiting them and you.

It’s magnificent from start to finish, from the supercharged surf-music and girl-group harmonies of opener ‘Sure As Spring’ to the haunted indiepop of closer ‘You Can Never Know’. In between Shana Cleveland (guitar), Marian Li Pino (drums), Abbey Blackwell (bass), and Alice Sandahl (keyboards) produce another nine exhilarating tracks, including the fast, quirky garage-pop of 'Pink Slime', the early Vivian Girls-like ‘Big Bad Blood’ and the hazy, reverb-smothered, twangy wonderfulness of ‘What Good Am I?’ ‘Morning High’, with its piercing keyboards and pulsating rhythms sounds like the Velvet Underground had learned to surf, while ‘Phantom Feelings’ has surf guitars and exotically wailing keyboards. It’s as if Dick Dale had married the Shangri-Las and then they wore leathers to the beach!

A bit of doo-wop, a little garage-rock, some 60s girl-group pop and a pinch of punk nous to hold it together, these are the components of the La Luz sound but the album is more than the sum of those parts; it’s exciting, invigorating, essential pop music.

Links:
http://laluz.bandcamp.com/
http://www.hardlyart.com/laluz.html
https://www.facebook.com/laluzusa