On Tuesday night Seattle surf-rock female quartet, La Luz were involved in a serious car accident. Their van was totaled, merch and gear completely destroyed and the girls were left terribly bruised. The band was on tour with Of Montreal en route to a sold out hometown show at Neumos when they were tragically rear ended by a large truck. La Luz has canceled all further tour dates. Suicide Squeeze would like to help La Luz by donating 100% of profits generated through sales of the Brainwash EP from their online store. Check out this statement from the band below.
From La Luz:
Last night was probably the most terrifying experience of any of our lives. But we’re ok! Thanks for the love and well wishes everyone. We lost a lot of things (pretty much everything we had) and got pretty banged up when we were hit by a semi on our way to Seattle last night, but we’re just awfully glad to be alive and we’ll be back on our feet in no time. For those of you who want to help out financially, Hardly Art set up this paypal to help us pay for some stuff and money we lost. Love to you all!
Seattle quartet La Luz immediately brings to mind the girl groups of the ‘50s and ‘60s. The immaculate four-part harmonies, the luscious layers of reverb, the occasional choreographed dance move, even the band’s penchant for oldies-style artwork—it all conjures images of beehived ladies singing sweetly on grainy black-and-white television. But give the new “Brainwash b/w T.V. Dream” single a spin and try to pin down a specific reference point from the past. You can’t. The dexterous but economic keyboard lines of Alice Sandahl and the stripped-down groove laid down by the rhythm section of Abbey Blackwell and Marian Li Pino don’t fit in with wall-of-sound icons like The Crystals or The Ronettes. The nimble surf rock twang of guitarist Shana Cleveland is at odds with classic Motown groups like The Marvelettes or The Supremes. Yes, the doo-wop nostalgia is certainly there, but the manufactured glamour and studio sheen is absent. The ladies of La Luz are true Pacific Northwesterners–swathed in warm wool sweaters, laying into their instruments as their hair messily spills over their faces, making records in trailer parks on the outskirts of the city, and battling the gloomy weather by channeling the summer on the two golden nuggets of their latest EP. The second pressing of this 7” is limited to 500 copies on clear vinyl and comes with a free download code as well as being available digitally worldwide.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Order Brainwash 7” on Vinyl
($5.99 minimum, but feel free to pay more if you can)
Purchase a digital copy of Brainwash
($1.98 minimum, but feel free to pay more if you can)