La Sera, Sees The Light
Featured Album
A delightful, atypical run at heart-worn territory
Typical breakup records run the gamut of soul-crushingly sad to fuming. A songwriter weeps over an acoustic guitar or rages through a riff and we all come away identifying with the jilted. Sees the Light, the sophomore effort from La Sera, aka Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls, All Saints Day), is a delightful, atypical run at that heart-worn territory. Goodman spins out 10 garage-pop tunes that dismiss heartbreak in favor of charming melodies and hazy guitars. “I love my life without you,” she sings in the first seconds of album opener “Love That’s Gone”; “I don’t want you to be my man,” she clarifies a few tracks later on “It’s Over Now.” Goodman’s skill at cutting to the quick makes for a round of hook-happy songs: Fat chance forgetting the buzzy flurry of “Break My Heart” or the tongue-in-cheek whimsy of “Real Boy.” There’s a lightness to her touch, a sort of best-of-luck subversion that would rather indulge in sunny California vibes than emotional havoc. Breaking up, it seems, ain’t so hard to do for punk chicks with pop dreams.
