Surf rock is perhaps one of the most imagery-generating music forms. The country guitar solos that accompany the beach riffs have the ability to inspire simultaneous pictures of driving through a bleak desert in the hot sun and under the hot sun by the water. In the aftermath of a sunny city day, then, a night of surf rock at Neumos sounded just about perfect and La Luz delivered just that. The Seattle quartet opened for old-time favorites The Intelligence Wednesday June 19 and, par for the course, played a sultry set of jams.

La Luz is an all-female quartet, which typically isn’t something that needs to be noted because sometimes comments on female-dominated bands can read as kind of degrading. These girls, however, bring a certain type of femininity to their music and live show that distinguishes them from many similar-seeming bands of the day, and makes the fact relevant.

The last time we caught these ladies was at Black Lodge, where they loudly played to an audience present and revved for the event. In the quieter and innately more professional Neumos, it was easier to hear past the band’s image to the credentials of their music itself. La Luz fluctuated between the guitar driven songs clearly inspired by acts like Man or Astroman? and a more doo-wop sound driven (although not solely dominated) by the collaboration of each member’s vocal harmonies. It was a thoughtful, well-planned set in addition to being a well-played one.

Just like an album should care about the placement of tracks, La Luz seemed to take note of the variety their sound offers and played with appropriate variation to make each song feel like a totally new experience (even when there was no pause between songs, which was much appreciated). Timing is something La Luz definitely has down. Even in the more spontaneous live setting, they were able to pack a punch using well-planned mid-song rests and synchronous comebacks.

La Luz played the middle of the bill between Seattle’s Pony Time and The Intelligence. The Intelligence recently returned from a European tour and played a very long set, which was also a very incredible set which is not surprising because they’ve been playing together for over a decade so they’ve got the lo-fi post-punk vibe down pat (having started as a band during the last breaths of Seattle’s underground heyday).

La Luz is heading off on a U.S. tour before heading back to Seattle for Capitol Hill Block party later this summer; you can check out their upcoming tour dates here!