La Luz – Floating Features (Vinyl)

Los Angeles has often been described as a dream factory – both a mecca where dreamers converge to pursue long-held aspirations, and a topography of hallucinogenic contradictions: enchanting tangerine sunsets diffused by smog, crystal-clutching spiritualists mingling with deep-pocketed narcissists, rows of scenic palms competing with garish billboards for commuters attention.

It was against this backdrop that the four members ofLa Luz– singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandahl, and bassist Lena Simon – conceived ofFloating Features, the bands third studio album. For this, their most ambitious release yet,La Luzconsulted landscapes both physical and psychological.

References to dreams abound onFloating Features. Loose Teeth catalyzes nightmare fuel into a propulsive, intentionally-disorienting collision of honeyed harmonies andTakeshi Terauchi-esque jetstreams of distorted surf guitar.Mean Dreamunsurprisingly mines dream state imagery, and the lyrics and melody forWalking Into the Sunactually came toClevelandduring a particularly-vivid night of deep sleep. Looming over the albums coterie of surreal figures (gargantuan cicadas, a monstrousCreature,The Sun King, aliens, the titularLonely Dozer) is the magnificentGreed Machine,a skulking, insatiable engine of consumption Nathanael Wests business of dreams fearsomely manifested.

OnlyLa Luzcould conjure upFloating FeaturesLeone-on-LSD vibes, and the album finds the L.A. band at the height of their powers – golden rebels in a golden dream.

Track Listing:

Floating Features
Cicada
Loose Teeth
Mean Dream
California Finally
The Creature
My Golden One
Lonely Dozer
Greed Machine
Walking Into the Sun
Don’t Leave Me On the Earth