It’s early summer, and the warm damp air is blowing in through the windows, and the slow rhythm of La Strada’s guitars, strings, drums and accordions has a calming effect. The New York band’s first full-length album, New Home, is like a burst of positive energy, conjuring up visions of travelling and wanderlust. Playing poppy orchestral folk with an Eastern European folk influence, La Strada, who headlines Gus’ Pub on Monday, seems refreshingly together and unpretentious. The album mixes more upbeat tracks like the rousing “Wash on By” and Simon and Garfunkel-like “Shapes in the Sky” with quieter, dreamier numbers; reminiscent of bands like Arcade Fire and Okkervil River, but with a sound of their own. –Laura Kenins
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2010.
