Melodic, crisp, airy and dreamy all describe La Luz’s new track “Watching Cartoons.” “Watching Cartoons” has a retro sound that relaxes through mellow guitar, light percussion, and distinct vocal layering and melodic emphasis. The lyrics and vocal performance add to the calming, chill energy of the track, making “Watching Cartoons” something to engage with again and again.
The simple instrumentation and muted guitar/minimal percussion all serve to create a soft support system for the vocals, which are what really propel the track forward. As a listener, your ears hone in immediately on the melodic harmonizing, while the instrumentation gives texture. I think La Luz and the production team did a great job with the final mixing on this track, as no instrument really overpowers anything else, and the track stays centered on the vocals and lyrics, which was always the intention. Around the 2:17 mark there was a really nice electric guitar solo which I really liked, followed by a brief electric piano solo. I really enjoyed the break from vocals that the solos gave, and how the instrument driven bridge spaces out the track, making a 3:43 minute song feel much longer.
The lyrics from the Los Angeles trio center on escapism, with lines like “So long, farewell, goodbye, I went too far this time… if you look for me, I’ll be inside, watching cartoons.” The lyrics about escapism and freedom pair well with the dreamy sound of the music itself. One of my favorite parts of songs is how the lyrics and vocal performance interact with the music, and I think that La Luz hit the nail on the head with their vocal/music pairing.
Where “Watching Cartoons” also shines is in the accompanying music video. The video incorporates Scooby-Doo referencing animation, assisting the retro feel of the song, a bright color palette, cool sets, and from 2:08 to the end of the video, a very cool Claymation scene. “Watching Cartoons” is one of my favorite music videos that I have seen recently, not only for the artful animation and creative cinematography, but also for the story that the video tells that does not seem to be represented in the lyrics. The story of the music video seems to be that the three band members receive a haunted TV that sucks them into a cartoonish world, animated in all sorts of animation styles. The three band members are drawn into the TV world one by one, and then they must try and escape. There is even a scene where the Claymation band members battle a very detailed clay spider-monster! I think that La Luz is a super creative group, and the combination of song and video make their dynamic creativity self-evident.
“Watching Cartoons” is a retro feeling, smooth moving, indie rock track that engages the listener not only with a song, but also with a music video. La Luz recently announced an upcoming album with the release of this single, and I am very much looking forward to hearing more.
