Allah-Las

Allah-Las make music that resists easy placement. Since forming in Los Angeles in 2008, the band has steadily sidestepped trends, creating a sound rooted not in nostalgia, but in feel-instinctual, atmospheric, and often instrumental in its storytelling, even when words are present. Their records suggest a band uninterested in spectacle, and focused instead on tone, pacing, and space. The easy friendship that blossomed when three of the four band members were working at Amoeba Music has evolved into a lauded body of work grounded in storytelling and discovery. Their first album for Mexican Summer, 2016's Calico Review, was a cinematic exploration of their hometown of Los Angeles, while their sophomore effort for the label, 2019's LAHS, saw them looking farther abroad, turning their gaze outward and transmitting sound from a place not found on any map. It's a similar fascination with vast listening, inner and outer traveling, and collective imagining that steers their new album Sirenas, the band's first fully instrumental expression.