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To say that I’ve looked forward to this show would be a huge understatement. Since La Sera (aka the solo project of Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls and her sharp backing band; more on them later) has not ever played in Philadelphia and since their absolutely fantastic, new Sees the Light is one of my favorite albums of the year, I was determined to see them play. I can think of no other band over the last 4-5 years other than Vivian Girls who have produced not just so many great records of their own, but who have spawned so related side projects and related bands, ALL terrific. Thus, I try not to miss any of them when they come near us. This was especially true given that this was our first time seeing La Sera. The closest show to us was this show in a venue I’d never heard of in Williamsburg and so off we went.
With only two albums under their belt, La Sera played a short (approximately 45 minute), but thrilling set that exaggerated the aggression on not only Sees the Light material, but even on the mellow, trippy, dream-pop type material of the first, self-titled Lp (released early last year). In other words, it was a pleasant shock to hear first Lp material played through the prism of loud, heavy, almost psychedelic backing courtesy of Sees the Light producer Rob Barbato (also of Darker My Love) on guitar and a sympathetic bassist and drummer as well. While this type of backing was expected on Sees the Light numbers like “Please Be My Third Eye” (a song which Goodman introduced as being “about telepathy”) and the umm, driving, “Drive On”, it was completely unexpected on the quieter tracks. When Barbato broke a string on B-side “Behind Your Eyes”, for example, they used the occasion to turn the song (only a little over two minutes on record) into an extended, impromptu, droning jam. It was great and you can watch it here. The one big exception to the loud, in your face, rocking set (again contrast to the often moody, pensive and reflective and superbly melodic nature of BOTH of La Sera’s Lps) was the version of 1st Lp single “Never Come Around”. Once that “Be My Baby” style drum-beat came in, I knew what it was gonna be and in that case, messing with the tempo probably wouldn’t work as well. All in all, this set was a triumph!
Opener Life Size Maps was also a delight and a band that was previously completely unknown to me. Their song “Weird Luck” (which also leads off the 3-song CD they were giving away at their merch table) reminded me lots of DIIV (formerly DIVE), the great band on the Captured Tracks label. In other words, this was clearly dream-pop played with the energy of punk rock! Their other material was more rooted in straightforward ’90s indie rock, but all of it impressed. I hope they record more soon!
We got there too late to watch too much of The New Lines, so I can’t really comment too much on their set here.
The above photo of La Sera was taken by Carrie Quartly and is used with permission.
