Steve Sax, God, Pavement, Weezer, e.e. cummings, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dave, DAVE!, Hooters, Bitter Bitter Weeks, Boston, mom and dad, Mr. Show, and all four of Philadelphia's major professional sports franchises (Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, Eagles) are but a tiny sample of the entities and people thanked in the expansive list contained in the booklet that comes with this album. Whether or not the Phillies or Egon Schiele had much to do with bringing this album into this cruel, absurd world I guess is beside the point-- I think people whose primary mental focus in life is something around which a body of knowledge can be built, like, say, music or baseball, are just natural list makers, for whom a written list of stuff means just as much as a detailed essay.
In this case, Los Halos frontguy Samezvous seems to be laying out what he thinks made his life what it is, and then sticking it in his album insert whether it will make sense to anyone else or not. And, of course, even though I don't really know where some of the references on the list came from, I still read the whole thing and got something out of it. You can hear some of these things in the music, when you look for them. The Cure, for example, get a mention, and I don't have too much trouble hearing them in opener "Lioness", albeit with a sight less melodrama.
The album as a whole falls somewhere between the two previous Los Halos albums, the first of which was a noise-laden psychedelic wall of guitar and drum stomp, and the second a 170-degree turn into radiant electro-acoustic folk. On Leaving VA, Samezvous and his attendant assemblage of collaborators shoot for a floating, evenly paced sound, amply widened with reverb and a consistent midtempo. "Lioness" really does sound like an especially mellow Cure track, with its nervously hovering rhythm and slowly shifting chords. "Lo Siento" is the biggest pleaser in the bunch, stretching space-based guitar over a loose, eight-minute frame of basic organ, percussion and bass. Samezvous' wispy tenor sounds relaxed delivering these confident melodies, with his best showcase coming on the mostly acoustic "The Back Home", a song that nicely changes from an almost country opening into a tambourine-driven British Invasion number, with a detour into vintage folk for good measure.
Leaving VA closes with its title track, a methodical, measured ballad that doesn't shy from sentimentality, slowly unfurling a story about two young lovers who grow up and get married. Set against the backdrop of world events, it seems lightweight, but it fits well enough with the slow jangle around it, rounding out the album on a positive, optimistic note. Los Halos seem to have discovered the sound that works best for them on Leaving VA, a sound that taps the tension between softness and rough edges for its energy. There are still a few bugs to be worked out (some quicker tempos might be nice, for one thing), but Los Halos have made a quietly ingratiating record here.
