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Seeing Da Light with La Sera

I'm back from my sabbatical. Not so much as a sabbatical as I do have a fairly active life, and no internet until tomorrow (woo), so updating as much as I try to is a bit of a struggle. I mean not like, what's happening in Mexico, or what Irish immigrants went through in America for the latter part of the 19th century. But it's a little struggle. A tiny struggle. A minute struggle. 


Anyway, in that time being, I have discovered the new La Sera album and subsequently fallen in love. 


Cute!


I never paid attention to her debut that came out last year. Why? Um, the concept was boring? Like, oh. One of those chicks from one of those bands that kind of all sound the same (a la Dum Dum Girls). I mean, I'm more interested in listening to rare whale sounds.


But on a random whim, and I guess all whims are random really, I downloaded her newest effort, Sees the Light. I also downloaded the new Frankie Rose because some of her stuff is okay and I often confuse the two of them (intelligent). Well, Frankie's not done much for me, BUT GODDAMN THIS LA SERA ALBUM.


Let's pretend I don't have any kind of degree from any kind of school:  BEST ALBUM OF 2012 BY FAR.


It's dreamy. It's beautiful in a peaceful-easy-feeling kind of way. It's just a nice listen to on a summer afternoon; it really sets her apart from her Vivian Girl cohorts. From the first track, I was HOOKED. swoon.


It's not anything that spectacular or really, out of the ordinary. But it's hard to find a flaw with it, anything at all wrong except the songs on the short album run the risk of sounding too close alike. If you grew up on bands like Fleetwood Mac or the Beach Boys, and then when puberty happened you thought My Bloody Valentine defined you, well, here's an album that follows that muddied train of thought. 


"Love That's Gone" sounds like it should be a traditional sort of love song, a tired Cat Stevens-esque thing that people slowdance to at weddings. Well! It's not. The whole Sees the Light circles around what sounds like a pretty nasty break-up. And one doesn't know if she's quite brokenhearted or she's the one doing the heartbreaking. There's two sides to every story....ask George Zimmerman. BING. I'm going to hell.




"Real Boy" has a twee aspect to it that calls to mind "Teenager" by Camera Obscura. You've heard the song, I'M SURE. "Drive On" displays her garage rock chops pretty well. "I Can't Keep You In My Mind" is catchy as an STD on a gay cruise ship.


But, as I alluded to earlier:  sometimes it's hard to tell when one song ends and another picks up and take its place. That aside, Sees the Light does enough to establish this Vivian Girl (Katy Goodman) as a firm presence on her own. I definitely was able to appreciate this more than I have anything by the following:


- Vivian Girls
- Dum Dum Girls
- Ja Rule


Overall:  a pretty decent album and enough to just make you a La Sera fan. I see great thing for this girl. 


rating:  B+


I'm going to go back to listening to Taylor Swift now. FUCK

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