The Luyas

There has already been much print love lavished on the still-nascent Luyas, a product of the ever-percolating Montreal scene. This of course, may have something to do with the pedigree of the group’s members: Pietro Amato (Bell Orchestre, Torngat, part-time Arcade Fire associate), Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestre) and Jessie Stein (SS Cardiacs, Miracle Fortress). Their first record, Faker Death, is appropriately titled; it’s a loosely strung together collection of imagined death wishes after the breakdown of a relationship. But it isn’t a break-up record — it acts more as a release for Stein, which she delivers in oblique, pretty poetry, with her equally pretty, snaking voice. Schneider and Amato, meanwhile, work well off Stein’s bare-bones guitar, confidently moving from blustering horns and percussion passages to subtle, ebbing accents. Of course, Stein remains the centrepiece, largely due to the real conviction in her mumbled daydream voice. It’s easy to see why music scribes are getting hot and bothered about this trio so early on; it’s because of the promise that they show. More time spent in the practice space and on tour should reveal fascinating results on their next effort.