Ava Luna / Ice Level

Infinite Best

“Brooklyn’s Ava Luna is the rare band that needs to be heard to be believed. In the band’s hazy, floaty, post-TV-on-the-Radio-maybe conceit, post-punk grooves, soaring soul harmonies and classic indie detachment join forces for something beautiful, infectious and damn-near indescribable. The twisted brainchild of Carlos Hernandez, the son of a soul DJ and occasional producer of bands like Fucked Up, Ava Luna is the sum of a lot of somehow congruous parts. The minimal drums / bass / synth lineup kicks out the most skeletal of Ze Records-era post-punk / nu-funk; a chorus made up of three backing singers add a razor-sharp doo-wop lilt; the sweat-soaked Hernandez is up front stirring soul like Jamie Liddell or a James Chance for the Misshapes age.” —Christopher Weingarten, Village Voice   Ice Level is Ava Luna’s first proper full-length release; it follows two critically lauded and criminally under-heard self-releases that garnered praise from Impose, The L Mag and the Village Voice’s Chris Weingarten, and by artists like Toro y Moi, the Rapture and Damon Dash (!).  What those clever folks see between the lines has now become self-evident; Ice Level proves beyond all doubt that Carlos Hernandez’s skills as a songwriter, arranger and producer are now in full effect, and the band he’s assembled is an unstoppable force both on record and in concert. Backing singers Anna Sian, Becca Kauffman and Felicia Douglass, bassist Ethan Bassford, synth-master Nathan Tompkins and drummer Julian Fader are as essential as they are engaging. Ice Level is a danceable, freakishly addictive stunner.

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