La Sera

A couple of years ago I wrote a somewhat rambling review of La Sera's third album "Hour of the Dawn" which threatened to turn into a bit of a confessional of my longstanding aural love affair with Katy Goodman. So it might be easier to just cut to the chase and say that "Music For Listening To Music To" is not only an outstanding album of contemporary Indie-Pop, it also serves as an insight as to how popular music culture has influences an artist. Then again, I already know this is - and not only because I just knew (see above. I do have the most discerning musical taste of anyone I know) - because DIY Mag not only had an exclusive stream, but also had track-by-track commentary from Both Katy and Todd Wisenbaker (can't help but feel that Under the Radar's post was remarkably similar...) Luckily this Blog is just a hobby and I don't have to rely on click-throughs for living... 

You might have noticed I mentioned both Katy and Todd (although I shouldn't neglect La Sera drummer Nate Lotz - Indeed I first bumped into Todd and Nate at the "Hour of the Dawn" album launch gig - what a great night out that was - as the pair performed sterling service for Greta Morgan's Springtime Carnivore) as with the pair having tied the knot last year it probably makes sense to refer to this album as a collaborative affair.

I've always felt that Katy Goodman is a seriously underrated singer - there's this soothing tone married to a crystalline clarity that just gives me goose-bumps when ever I hear her voice, be it on record or more importantly live (I've never seen La Sera perform at The El Rey, but from experience know how difficult it can be for some vocalists to ** cough ** 'project' at some of the other venues in town). So having downloaded the album over the weekend and subsequently hitting the repeat button as if it were an automatic reflex (much to Mrs Blog's annoyance), it was interesting to read (yes there's that DIY Mag interview again) that this album is the first time that Katy has really felt proud of her voice.

"High notes" is - as she points out - an ode to her voice. To be honest I've never really thought of it as 'effeminate' or 'high-pitched'; I've always thought her vocals to be for the most part melodious ("Losing to the dark" from "Hour of the Dawn" is perhaps the exception to the rule) and while certainly distinctive - I guess I've always been impressed by how her vocals never seem to run out of steam - but the qualities of her 'pitch' has never really entered my mind.  "High notes" is such a beautiful song - and if you are going to pay homage to your vocals then you might as well as write a song that does it justice. There's a palpable urgency;  those refrains could soar forever, yet still you feel Katy wouldn't need to draw breath. And I love the feel of the song - there's this Alt-Country vibe that seems to me to thread it's way through the entire album (having lived here for a decade, I've managed to shake off my prejudices to the rich heritage of Americana in general and Country - especially that bluesy guitar sound - in particular) - I've mentioned Todd's fret work on "Hour of the Dawn", but on this album the guitars and arrangements are as much apart of this album as Katy's vocals. There's an added harmonica which again totally reinforces the country feel that surrounds the song (if the official - and very tongue-in-cheek video hasn't already given the game away...) It's hard not to listen to this song without grinning wildly from ear-to-ear.

   
It's also hard to listen to any song on this album - diverting yourself from the construction, dragging yourselves away from Katy's voice - and not find yourself zoning in on the lyrics; "...A little girl pulled me aside and said I wouldn't make it through the night, Well thank you darling, this I know, I threw a look over my shoulder towards the guys who look dissatisfied, I'm sorry, is this song too slow? " But as reviews have commented - there's a quality to lyrics that when matched to the Todd's meticulous and melodic guitar (The Guardian used 'mellifluous' - I had to look that up) - would suggest that if Morrissey and Marr had formed The Smiths in The Southland rather than Salford we'd be talking about this album in even more reverend tones than I am at present.

There's also a retro / sixties undercurrent that permeates throughout this album and which occasionally surfaces for air.  On a "A thousand ways" the melancholic vocals and structure reminds me of those great female vocalists of that era - Dusty, Sandie (my mum taught me well) - La Sera have visited this before, especially 2011's eponymous debut and "See the Light." Here lilting guitars and bitter-sweet lyrics ("...But don't walk away from my love, stay here inside my heart...") lead to one of those soaring chorus that you wish would climb and go on for ever - one that Katy's voice is built for - and which luckily for me repeats (not to mention a striking key change) to fade...

As befits the fact that La Sera are now a two, there are a couple of great vocal sparring between Katy and Todd which highlights the differences between the pair's styles. The first of these, "One true love", sees Todd take the verses; all world-weary, downbeat - I often write about female vocalists - chanteuses - singing as if worn-out by despair, so it's a change to hear these same emotions from the male perspective. Meanwhile, Katy's soaring and seemingly care-free refrains acts as the song's counterpoise.  "I need an angel" sees these roles reversed. However, while there's that distinctive tonal imbalance between the two, their sentiments are similar. These pair are down on their luck, and while Katy may try and laugh it all off; "...We were money in the bank till the bank got robbed, Cruising easy street till the wheel fell off...", Todd's choruses are far more morose; "...Heaven help me, I need an angel, I need a miracle..." it's not so much a cry for help, but a statement. I love the way that the jangling, twanging guitars power the song along - seemingly at odds with the lyrics' sombre edge - even as the country-riff crashes head-first into discordant reverb - frankly this could be the album's hidden gem. 


As I may have mentioned in this Blog once or twice before, I'm a huge sucker for melancholy, dreamy pop - it's something that La Sera do really well (don't believe me? Just listen to the back catalogue) and this album is no exception.

For starters "Begins to rain" ticks all the right boxes. This is a song that drips with regret, even the tremeloed guitars seem weep as they jar into one another. All the while the song feels autobiographical, Katy's voice tinged with sadness; "...But we are not the same as we used to be, Our faces start to change, we hang up all of those dreams..." yet at the same time - when the refrain is as controlled and note-perfect as this - it actually feels as if those rain-sodden clouds are starting to lift.

"Take my heart" is an achingly beautiful yet heartbreaking ballad. There's a palatable fragility to Katy's voice as she lays everything on the line, pleading; "...Take my heart, take my heart, take my heart..." while languid guitar and gentle rhythmic percussion fill the spaces.  This is a song that demand to be performed live - on a darkened stage - with just a solitary spotlight to focus on the vocalist... Totally compelling, the song offers a complete change of pace from everything before it. I guarantee that as you listen to the album, this will be the song that stop you in your tracks.

Meanwhile the country-tinged "Shadow of your love" adds a touch of echo to ethereal vocals floating atop of gentle picked guitar. And while the vocals lament that  "...Nothing grows in the shadow of your love...", layered guitars and percussion pick up the pace. However, the trick to this song is how the texture and urgency adds to the overall poignancy.

But I need to snap out of my self-induced melancholy and cranking the volume up for "Time to go" will do the trick every time. Katy's breathless vocals swirl around slide guitar and metronomic percussion, as stripped-back and oscillating wildly, punk gets introduced to rockabilly and collides head-first into The Smiths. Utterly fantastic - sometimes the best songs require so few words...

"Nineties" sees Todd flying solo on the vocals. Yet despite the song's title, there's one foot firmly entrenched here in the eighties. Nostalgic - the unmistakeable feeling of regret, heightened by atmospheric synths - you can image this song being practised in a thousand bedrooms up and down the North-West (that's Manchester and Lancaster, not Seattle and Washington State).  Todd's downbeat vocals perfectly capture the song's mood and to be honest the comments I've made about "Take my heart" being potentially a killer song performed live equally apply here.

The album closes with the haunting "Too little too late" and a song that reflects wistfully upon those missed opportunities of days long since past. It's again beautifully constructed - deceptively simple and uncluttered - just Katy soulful vocals that float over a stream of textured guitars.

While "Music For Listening To Music to" is most definitely a La Sera album (no one has a voice like Katy Goodman - trust me on this) it's noticeably different from the previous albums. While there's a noticeable maturity on display, the songs also sound fresher - natural - shorn of any studio sheen and with a feeling of immediacy. Turns out this is thanks to the regime of producer  Ryan Adams (still haven't heard Ryan's critically acclaimed interpretation of "1989" - nor for that matter Taylor Swift's original - but Google found a piece in 'Rolling Zzzzzz' that suggests the fast and furious recording sessions for "Music For Listening To Music To" led to Ryan, Todd and Nate forming the catalyst for Adam's album). In an interview (Google is indeed my friend), Katy suggests that she wanted an album that would sound like it would if performed live. Having seen and heard Dum Dum Girls run through the amazing "Too True" in such a fashion I can think of no higher complement than to suggest that I - and a lot of people - would pay good money to see and hear La Sera do the same...

Yearlist. 

La Sera (Website)
"Music For Listening To Music to" (Bandcamp), (Polyvinyl)