Coming after their third full-length album,
Animator,
Says You is the first release in four years from experimental indie outfit
the Luyas, and was created after a change in approach. Trying to detach from what they described as professionalism in music, the band spent several months improvising with a goal to make recordings that sound "the way we really play." The first result of this process -- with the promise of an LP to follow -- is a five-track EP that's mostly improvised, has very few overdubs other than vocals, and relishes rough edges. It was produced with
the Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek. Echoing thuds, blippy electronics, and erratic electric guitar open the album on "Engineers" before bandleader Jessie Stein makes her entrance over a minute into the song. Drums and keyboards then fall into rhythm behind her until they're all overtaken by a spaceship-like hum in the final seconds. The song imagines an alternate future after some large-scale disruption ("I didn't want to do good/Or have the power to end things/We're all pawns in the world"). Later, the dreamy title track has guitar and layers of varied synth timbres that circle beneath the vocal line with drums and textured cymbals. The final track, "If It Exists," is sparer than the rest. It's a wistful tune with mostly spacy, arpeggiated keys and Stein's equally understated lyrics, "Love is only love/A song is just a song." While the tracks here value atmosphere more than hooks or form,
Says You doesn't sound improvised so much as it feels immediate. Whatever their process, it still sounds uniquely
Luyas. ~ Marcy Donelson