La Luz

In Spanish, La Luz means "light" and that's the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band's signature—and you'll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end. Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record It's Alive - the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face - with their friend and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie chords of Sure As Spring, the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts.