I absolutely loved La Sera‘s last album, 2012’s “Sees the Light” and I had also heard rumblings from those who had heard about this LP being completed for months before the release date.
singer-songwriter Katy Goodman‘s mellower, sadder earlier works under her nom de plume La Sera, was stressed. Goodman even said “I didn’t want it to be another record of me sad, alone in my room. I wanted to have fun playing music and writing songs with a band.” adding Morgan also plays with Goodman in Books of Love, the press is a bit misleading. When your lead-off track is called “Losing to the Dark” and chronicles the sadness and frustration of a lover’s decay from nightly alcohol and drug abuse,
Still, the music on this track is indeed faster and more aggressive than anything La Sera has done to date and like she does on some other cuts on the album, Goodman sounds more enraged than wistful. And like so much classic pop, it combines cheery, upbeat melodies with lyrics evoking the many struggles of everyday life. but at heart I think she knows that even the bouncy “It’s My Party” is lyrically a sad song with its references to crying.
After “Losing to the Dark,” the pace settles down a bit with the jangly, Roy Orbison-like “Summer of Love” before ace guitarist Wisenbaker unleashes a great Billy Zoom-like riff to open “Running Wild,” another tale of a wayward lover. The “go go go go” vocal part that then launches into the solo is a particular highlight.
Elsewhere, the title track, “Kiss This Town Away” and “Control” are all further highlights of this consistently great album. There’s even a track oddly called “10 Headed Goat Wizard” though as far as I can tell it has nothing to do with heavy metal or gaming . And don’t miss the gorgeous, Smiths-like “Fall in Place.”
Perhaps there is so much drama on the rest of the album that closing with the instrumental though it features ghostly harmonies from each band member) “Storm’s End” is appropriate here. And like the title implies, there is much more going on here than meets the surface. In short, this is one of 2014’s best albums and perhaps La Sera’s best work yet.
The Fat Angel Sings 