Sled Island & connectFirst present: La Luz + Sweeping Promises

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La Luz

When La Luz burst onto the garage-rock scene in 2012 with debut album It’s Alive, it was immediately clear their take on surf-inspired, noir-leaning songs was here to stay. The band’s snappy rhythm section, chunky organ melodies, guitar rave-ups and AM gold-harmonies felt fresh and vital even when among their similarly influenced peers.

La Luz toured endlessly in support of It’s Alive and proved that those songs that crackled through reverb in the studio made for a hell of a party on stage. The invigorating grooves found on tracks like “Sure as Spring” and “Call Me in the Day” burned even brighter and hit even harder in the live setting. 

Off this solid foundation the group sprung into the recording of 2015’s Weirdo Shrine, a critical hit produced by Ty Segall in a converted surf shack. And while that record was heavily inspired by a science-fiction graphic novel about a supernatural STI, its recording aesthetic more accurately captured the rushes and crashes of seeing the band perform live. Another household-name producer entered the fray for Floating Features: Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Crisp and more melodic than ever, the album brought La Luz to new heights both artistically and in audience size.

Things weren’t always roses along the way. The band miraculously survived a freak-accident bus crash in 2013 and founding member, vocalist and guitarist Shana Cleveland more recently announced that she had breast cancer. But now the band is back on the road in support of its excellent self-titled album from last year. With psych elements and dialed up folk-noir elements from Cleveland’s solo career, it exemplifies an already-at-peak band refreshed and ready for its next exciting chapter.

Sweeping Promises

Like all the good post-punk bands, Sweeping Promises brims with propulsive bass, angular guitar and jittery drums, but what makes this act a whole better than good are killer hooks, flecks of new wave synth and giddy eccentricity found on debut album Hunger for a Way Out. Recently signed to Sub Pop, 2022 marks the group’s first-ever tour.

Sunglaciers

A well-oiled machine with a new album and international festival appearances under its belt, Sunglaciers is poised for success. The band’s latest full-length record Subterranea was produced by Chad VanGaalen, and draws focus to the group’s eclectic sound, seamlessly blending psych-pop sensibilities with ethereal layers of electronic voicings, all while shrouded in absurdism.

Temps

Jittery, jangly snippets of herky-jerky offbeat post-punk from this local four-piece give you nowhere to go but a great time getting there. Led by one-time West Coaster, songwriter David Lavoie, the collective will deliver its pandemic-influenced debut Mid Cycle this year — it’s an album that gives isolation a sound and voice.

 

UPSTAIRS

Ghost Woman

Ghost Woman’s blissfully hypnotic world is the creation of melodic maniac, Evan Uschenko. Blending psych with dust-worn elements of rock and soul, his songs combine a menacing duskiness with indelible grooves that lull listeners into an altered state. Uschenko was a long-time member of Michael Rault’s live band and has honed his on-stage chops through numerous international tours.

Low Hums

Pacific Northwest “music-nauts” Low Hums makes vibrant psych music in surprisingly short bursts, a mix of bubblegum euphoria and scorching rock and roll. The power trio’s sound is made up of a thick mixture of organ, guitar, bass and percussion that focus more on the endorphin rush of psych than the genre’s tendency to become awash in haze and noodling. The band has a new lineup since releasing 2018’s excellent Zzyzx and will be performing some new material at Sled Island.

Hélène Barbier

There is an undeniable playfulness to the oblique, complex melodies found within Hélène Barbier’s body of work. A founding member of Moss Lime and Phern, Barbier began creating under her own name with the debut LP Have You Met Elliott? in 2019. On her sophomore LP Regulus, Barbier takes a dialed back approach. Playing nearly every instrument herself, the resulting tracks are ever-evolving and fascinatingly layered.

Eye of Newt

Careful not to cut yourself on the jagged, angular songs of local artist and multi-instrumentalist Nate Waters. Normally a prolific jazz performer and contributor to numerous bands, Waters plants his flag as a frontperson aloofly yet emphatically with his demo singles and a live show with high expectations, considering his band includes Heather Buchanan, Samantha Savage Smith and Chris Dadge.

 

About Sled Island

The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is a five-day, multi-venue festival taking place June 22 - 26, 2022. The full lineup and schedule is available at SledIsland.com. 

Everyone has the right to feel safe and included at Sled Island. All festival attendees agree to abide by Sled Island's safer spaces and inclusion policy, which can be found here.

Sled Island acknowledges Calgary as the traditional territory of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Ĩyãħé Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley First Nations. Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.