songs i'm sent: from LA SCALA

songs i'm sent will now be a semi-often feature about songs that appear in my inbox. the feature's full name is: songs i'm sent that are okay, probably kinda catchy, but not really deserving of the kind of thought and energy that goes into a full album review, but more than just an awesome song day! because they probably have more than one good song, so it's gonna be real informative and light on the opinion. you can figure out for yourself why i'm going with songs i'm sent.


alright, let's get this party started. the band with the honor of deflowering my latest inspirational brainwave is la scala, a chicago band that plays music that has nothing to do with their namesake. a pretty decent mix of post-punk, continental gutter pop, and shoegaze-worthy guitar lines, the harlequin, la scala's debut ep, has just been released on hometown highwheel records. in my ever-growing list of people whose names i wish i had (you'll remember the last two were finbar mallon and slim moon) is la scala's frontman, balthazar de ley. ley spent his formative years shuttling between paris and illinois, and it shows. inspired by both french crime fiction and street busquers, ley's lyrics are 3 minute neo-gothic dumas novels accompanied by soaring, off-kilter waltzes. of the five songs on the harlequin, which was produced by brian deck, "parallel lives" is the clear hit, a dance number with soaring guitar, but every song is pretty effing catchy. actually, i pretty highly recommend this.

"parallel lives" & "the harlequin"

buy the harlequin from highwheel records.