Sean Hoffman and Leyla Akdogan, the dynamic duo between Loch & Key, released their debut effort Jupiter’s Guide for Submariners earlier this year and have been sailing the musical high seas ever since.
The album opens with Mt. Washington, a bossa nova drenched ode to East LA, that sets the pace between the jazzy and the contemporary. After tapping your toes and snapping your fingers through ‘In The Town of the Queen of Angels’ — ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ finds herself in Los Angeles? — We end up at ‘A Rather Large, Television-Shaped Head’ with its more contemporary guitar work and Cardigans-esque feel. ‘Maybe’ and ‘The Man Who Fell From the That Sky’ slow the collection down with sincere balladeering before ‘Devil’s Backbone’ kicks into a western gunslingin’, God-fearin’ romp. ‘Goodnight Bright Eyes’ closes things out with a solemn, but hopeful, instrumental. The album is a dreamy mix of Leyla’s subtle, airy vocals on top of Sean’s menagerie of guitar work.
The entire album was recorded in Sean’s Echo Park studio which features guest appearances from guitarist Vudi (American Music Club, Swans, Ariel Pink), drummer Derek Brown (The Eels, Everest), and pianist Marshall Thompson (Jem). With their friends to help them, Loch & Key’s love and fascination of Los Angeles is apparent in every song, with ‘Mt. Washington’ and ‘In The Town of the Queen of Angels’ paying special tribute.
Loch & Key will be continuing their residency at Redwood Bar for the last two Thursdays of September.
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Jupiter’s Guide for Submariners |