The Luyas from Montreal did their first live performance in December 2006. … Read Full Bio ↴The Luyas from Montreal did their first live performance in December 2006. Their first album, Faker Death came out in August 2007, and was re-released in January 2008 on Pome Records; that label was subsequently disbanded and the album's distribution rights were picked up by You've Changed Records.

Jessie Stein, formerly active in SS Cardiacs, is also a member of Miracle Fortress, and is the sister of By Divine Right's José Miguel Contreras. Amato and Schneider are both members of Bell Orchestre, Amato also plays in Torngat and was formerly a horn player for Arcade Fire.

The band played at the Pop Montreal festival in 2008 and the M for Montreal Festival in 2009.

The band uses an uncommon set of instruments featuring guitars, a French horn, piles of keyboards, drums and percussion. Singer/guitarist Jessie Stein expands the band’s musical vocabulary when she plays the Moodswinger, a 12-string electric zither designed by the Dutch experimental luthier Yuri Landman. The band became a four piece band with the addition of Mathieu Charbonneau in their line-up.

The Luyas were profiled by McSweeneys in the spring of 2010. In the same year the band signed to Dead Oceans for a release of their second album. Working with engineer Jeff McMurrich (Tindersticks, Constantines), The Luyas have also teamed up with friend and colleague Owen Pallett, who is lending his arranging skills and violin playing to a number of tracks.

The Luyas released their second album Too Beautiful to Work on Dead Oceans in February 2011. The Canadian release of the record was also in February 2011 via a new imprint called Idée Fixe Records.

Traces
The Luyas Lyrics

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My mind is going
My mind is gone
Oh how theyd tell you
Oh what I didnt
Look at you, my friend
What a wonderful time
We had the perfect weeks
And I could see the light

Would my hair grow all the way down
All the way down to the coastline
To where I was when I was happy.
I dream a heartbeat
I dream in wonderful time

Looking for traces
But all I see is the light

Overall Meaning

The Luyas's song Traces is a beautiful yet melancholic piece of music that speaks to the erosion of memories as time goes by. The opening lines "My mind is going, My mind is gone" suggest the singer's inability to hold on to memories as they slip away. The use of repetition further emphasizes this inability to hold on, and the mention of how others would talk about him and what he didn't do suggest a sense of regret or perhaps even shame.

However, amidst the sadness, there is a bittersweet nostalgia as the singer thinks back to a time when things were good. The line "We had the perfect weeks, And I could see the light" suggests that there was a moment when everything was aligned, and happiness was within reach. Yet, as time moves forward, memories become hazy, and the singer questions whether they will ever be able to recapture that feeling of contentment.

The recurring theme of searching for traces further enforces the idea that time erodes memories and creates distance between people and experiences. The line "Looking for traces, But all I see is the light" speaks to the frustration that comes with trying to recapture something that is lost. The final image of a dream heartbeat and dreaming of wonderful times further highlights the longing for something that may be unattainable.

Line by Line Meaning

My mind is going
I am losing my mental faculties.

My mind is gone
I have lost my mental faculties entirely.

Oh how theyd tell you
Others would inform you.

Oh what I didnt
I omitted and did not say.

Look at you, my friend
You, my companion, are worth observing.

What a wonderful time
It was a delightful moment.

We had the perfect weeks
The weeks we spent together were flawless.

And I could see the light
I had a glimpse of hope.

Would my hair grow all the way down
If only my hair grew to extend down...

All the way down to the coastline
As far as the beach goes...

To where I was when I was happy.
The place where I experienced joy and satisfaction.