Texas is home to many strange things and contradictions, A museum of the weird and a cathedral of junk are 2 real-life things that call the state home. Luego is from Texas, and while their music is a little weird, it is certainly not junk.
Revolving around the vision and the sound of Patrick Phelan, and Mark McKee’s production, Luego is releasing its upcoming album one song at a time. Their latest release is 4 Minute Mile. A song about moving on too fast from being is a sad phase. From a guy who’s gone all the way from meeting someone to marrying and eventually divorcing them during the pandemic alone, Phelan probably has some lessons to teach us about speed.
4 Minute Mile is a glistening pop tune. A melting pot of pop ideas and cliches, thrown together with a dash of unique character and a splash of direct imitation, a very delicate recipe, that can hit or miss. The vocals are polarizing, and the processed parts are overly processed, while not sounding bad, they sound human and alienating, combined with the (almost) naturally sung parts that do show that Phelan has a beautiful singing voice, the processed parts end up sounding unnecessary. The music is flawless. The production is airy and vast, the percussion is sparse and serves the general atmosphere of airiness quite well. A standout is a guitar. The acoustic sounds warm and subtle, adding great depth while never attracting the limelights, as those are reserved for the electric, which soars in the crescendo with a dazzling melody, featuring a fuzzed-out tone that’s an unexpected surprise. One gripe, though, dancing girls in the music video is an outdated trope that could have been improved upon with a little storyline or even a more engaging setting than the matted-out cyan walls backdrop. I know nothing about making music videos, though, so this is just an opinion.
Luego’s latest release borrows from Ye and Post Malone and adds their own signature beneath to create something truly unique while sounding vaguely familiar. This recipe was done well, and we can’t wait for more.