Experimental Canadian indie rock ensemble the Luyas make arty, atmospheric pop. Formed in Quebec in 2006, the band centers around lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jessie Stein and also features keyboardist/French horn player Pietro Amato, drummer Stefan Schneider, and organist Mathieu Charbonneau. The band self-released an EP in 2008 and followed it with the full-length Faker Death in 2009. The Luyas then signed to Dead Oceans and released the album Too Beautiful to Work in February of 2011. In January of 2012, Schneider left the band and was replaced by former Land of Talk drummer Mark Wheaton. Shortly afterwards, the band began work on their third album, Animator, which saw release on Dead Oceans in the fall of 2012. The album was heavily impacted by the death of a close friend of the band's at the onset of recording. With the lineup of Stein, Amato, both Wheaton and Schneider, and guitarist Michael Feuerstack, they followed it with a mostly improvised EP called Says You in 2016. It previewed their first full-length in nearly five years, 2017's Human Voicing, which was also rooted in improvisation and produced by Jace Lasek of Besnard Lakes. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi