La Sera: Sees the light (2012)

Por si alguien todavía no se ha enterado (que supongo que no), Katy “Kickball” Goodman es la bajista y vocalista de Vivian Girls. Katy es también la frontwoman de su proyecto La Sera, una banda en el que el Pop meloso fundido con las guitarras más distorsionadas encuentra su sitio y nos ha entregado ya dos discos cargados de caramelos envenenados pero a la vez melosos y juguetones. Si unimos al atractivo y al encanto personal de Katy el hecho de que la chica tiene verdadero talento para el Noise-Pop, el resultado final es una colección de canciones tremenda como este Sees the light (2012).
En este disco, parece que Katy ha querido darle mayor prestancia y consistencia a sus canciones. No es que su disco de debut estuviera mal, ni mucho menos, sólo que tenía una cierta languidez que le hacía desfallecer de vez en cuando. En Sees the light, La Sera demuestra que puede ser mucho más que el proyecto paralelo de Vivian Girls. De hecho yo lo prefiero a su banda matriz. Con su segunda entrega, Katy demuestra que se quiere tomar este negociado muy en serio. Ha dotado a su disco de mayor consistencia, de más distorsión (nos suena muuuucho a los noventa), acercándose a planteamientos más Noise (Please, be my third eye; I can´t keep you in my mind, Break my heart…). Lo mismo se asoma al C86 (How far we´ve come now) que se nos pone más tontorrona (Love that´s gone, It´s all over now, Don´t stay) con esos temas que abordan sentimientos a flor de piel. Lo mismo saca las botas y los estribos (Drive on) o se pasa a la juerguecilla a la manera Debbie Harrie (Real boy). Su maravillosa voz y su facilidad para la melodía hacen el resto.
Lo cierto es que Sees the light es un disco que, aunque no sorprendente, sí que resulta de lo más ameno, divertido y desde luego disfrutable. Una bonita colección de temas que no debe pasar desapercibida. Para TJB desde luego no.

La Sera – Sees the light (2012)

“It’s impossible to imagine Vivian Girls without “Kickball” Katy Goodman. Her high harmonies take a number of the songs from sloppily catchy to pop-friendly. Her bass playing often provides the most hummable melodies. At shows, while frontwoman Cassie Ramone plants herself at stage right, practicing strangulation on the neck of her guitar and testing the limits of her reverb pedals, Goodman can be found stage left, stepping to the mic for those aforementioned harmonies, jumping up and down, and smiling broadly. As gratifying as all of that sounds, Goodman had the understandable impulse to create things on her own: Last year found her taking the reins on a self-titled album as La Sera with mixed results. It was a pretty album, one that felt speckled with glitter, and it was faithful to the girl-group bliss for which her main group is known, but at times it felt a little too faithful– catchy but lacking a distinct identity, airy and pleasant almost to the point of superfluousness.
These problems have been more than corrected on on her sophomore La Sera collection, Sees the Light. Take “Break My Heart” and lead single “Please Be My Third Eye”. Delivered at warp speed and full volume, both songs are punchy punk numbers that sound like well-produced takes on Goodman’s short-lived All Saints Day project. But while those older songs clearly invited comparisons to the buzzsaws-cutting-through-corroded-metal sound of Vivian Girls and plenty of bands that came in their wake (particularly early Dum Dum Girls), these new tunes benefit from how Goodman separates herself from the pack. Her smooth alto– pushed refreshingly high in the mix– is a perfect fit for some of the record’s other tracks. Here, the elegant, almost ethereal singing contrasts with the fuzzy distortion in a way that’s infectious and unique. There are other departures as well: “Drive On” adopts a spaghetti-western guitar line that plays out dramatically, and “How Far We Come Now” is measured and heavy– both sonically and emotionally– sounding like a grunge band covering Carly Simon. 
As a result of Goodman’s knack for classic pop melody and structure, even the songs that bear a resemblance to La Sera are an improvement. They burst with personality and feeling: Closer “Don’t Stay” carries a particularly lonely drift, while the blooming arrangements and Shop Assistants-indebted feel of “I’m Alone” nestles closely to the same C86 and twee comparisons her Vivian Girls bandmate so vehemently rejects. Songs like “Love That’s Gone” and “It’s Over Now” coast gorgeously with an acrimonious undercurrent. These ballads find Goodman dismissing herself from a relationship in a way that’s heartbreakingly apologetic, the musical equivalent of sending a Dear John letter attached to a floral arrangement.
At a lean half-hour, there’s no room for filler here. Every song on Sees the Light is exquisitely crafted and overflowing with personality. It’s a record so enjoyable and expertly sequenced that it demands repeat listens before it’s even over. But most importantly, it shows Katy Goodman can translate what she brings to Vivian Girls into top-shelf songwriting” (pitchfork.com)

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