Misc. Day – Breaking Up The Magic

David Bowie once said, “breaking up is hard, but keeping dark is hateful,” La Sera combines both the darkness and the breaking up into one, pop fused lullaby. It is a subtle crawl to the ocean breeze, then to the fast lanes of highways where La Sera molds their world of sound into eloquence.

There is so much to be said about a band that can combine emotional drama into their music without become weighed down, La Sera on Sees the Light is just that perfect balance of despair and connectivity that blurs the lines of genre. They can be emotionally draining like on their first opening track, “Love That’s Gone”. But then are able to shift the tides with the following of “Please Be My Third Eye”, a rocket blast when compared to the sullen, but sea sick styling of “Love That’s Gone”.

There is a grace behind La Sera that is still present even when blasting through the ripping chords and vibrant instrumentation. Through the “soundtrack to a lost drive-in movie classic.” La Sera describes themselves and Sees the Light as a “an album not for the half-hearted partakers in the heartache scene.” It relies heavily on the vocal performance and writing of Katy Goodman that reflects these golden moments of La Sera and that continue to produce a new soundscape with each progressing track.

While daunting in some instances of lyrical content, Sees the Light never becomes a stance of depressive instrumentation as the at times psychedelic, and others heavily influenced by pop punk music; La Sera is graceful at its best. In other styles, they adapt to a more cutting edge style with these rushes of guitar and percussion that overtakes the listener in a soundscape of abrasiveness. When Sees the Light reaches a midpoint with “It’s Over Now”, La Sera is delightful in their sadness and can almost reflect the emotional stress through their music.

It is easy on the ears and allows the listener to get right into the groove with the dance-esque movements. Effortless at times, but relentless with others, La Sera is a delightful treat that always manages to compile the best efforts of heartbroken influenced love, with acoustic flurries and the clap along percussion that slides in with “I’m Alone”. Sees the Light becomes illumination behind the darkened corners of the ugliness of despair and does wonders with vivid, adventurous instrumentation.

The cowbell claps that lead “Real Boy” into the near fifties-doo-wop influenced instrumentation and vocal performance is enthralling. It is similar in style to the easy-going and graceful steps as Goodman describes “Real boy, I’ve got something to give away. And that’s my heart. My heart is yours, wont you take my hand? I’m yours”. The track then segues into a highly tuned guitar solo of surf heavy flows that cascade over the instrumentation to then flood into one of the final tracks of Sees the Light.

“How Far We’ve Come Now” is the most electric that La Sera gets with Sees The Light and their performance is incredibly heavy and almost crushing with the sound. It is the re-birth that leads La Sera into the vivid, orange painted sunsets and back into the listener’s heart for one last piece of beauty.

Listen To Sees The Light Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes