And then there are the tracks that just move with such a pace right from the get go that they demand your attention. La Vega’s “Key West” is like this, beginning instantly with a nifty stopping and starting guitar riff that jerks your body head first, like something caught by a hand from a speeding car. And “Key West” was always quick, even in it’s original form: “It was one of those songs that surprise you, that feel like they just sort of fall out of the sky, and all you gotta do is hold out your bucket and try to catch it as clean as you can. Wrote it start to finish and had a demo all multi-tracked and everything in just a couple hours one night” frontman Evan Magers writes. And even though it’s moving fast enough to leave you behind at every jangle of the guitar of hit of the snare, there’s still plenty to just sit back and enjoy, like the out-of-nowhere piano that crops up. Even Magers needs a moment come the last third of the song, slowing the pace for a moment and confessing, “Just gimme a minute/ Gimme minute to think.” Give La Vega’s “Key West” that minute, and then three more. Listen below.
