04. Second Chances by LuisG: Album Review

Originally published June 30, 2024

Preface: 

I have had the privilege of getting to know Luis over the last few months. Back in March or April, I tried to initiate my “fifteen minutes of fame” campaign with a contest where I would select a single artist out of a number of submissions and I would encourage as many people as possible to lift this person up for 15 minutes. To read about their musical journey, listen to their releases, and support their music by liking and following them on social media. Fortunately, for me, Luis submitted to the competition and he was selected as the winner. I have tried to since do the contest again, but I was unsuccessful in getting the same amount of participation. So, to this day, Luis is the only winner of the “Fifteen Minutes of Fame Challenge.” 

The challenge may not yet be successful, but the silver lining is the networking that took place; particularly with Luis. I got to know him and a little bit about his story. It turns out that he is just an extraordinary human being who pours his heart into his music. It was in these conversations that Luis mentioned the upcoming release of his album “Second Chances.”

This Doesn’t Feel Like Listening to an Album:

I feel like I’m sitting on a large piece of driftwood, on a beach at night with about half a dozen friends and Luis is sitting on the other side with a guitar. And he’s just plucking through his trials; taking some of the most difficult struggles of his life and turning them into something beautiful. This album isn’t perfect from a technical standpoint. And that adds to the feeling that this is an experience, not simply listening another album. I don’t think this was deliberately the intent of Luis. I dont think his intent was to hit every note, beat, lyric perfectly. I don’t think he intended to make a mistake either. When a song or album is too technical, you can hear it. It feels forced. And when a song is intentionally illogical, you can hear it. It, too, feels forced. But this album works so well because Luis is leaving part of himself with the listener.

Lyrically, he is saying a lot about himself. He wants us to look back at some of his happy memories, some of his not so happy memories, some of the advice he remembered, and some of the advice he wished he’d received but never did. There was something profound about the truth in its simplicity. The title track, he actually references how derivative it is to be cliche’ says a cliche, and makes it resonate in a way that is completely unique and original. On “There's a Light (In the Darkness),” he almost says in passing, “If there is one thing I’ve learned in all my years on Earth is be happy and don’t hide it.” It’s such an easy concept. Such an easy conclusion to come to. And yet, it’s so hard for so many of us! His sincerity comes through as he discusses a hard path to sobriety and how he is lucky to be alive. Luis doesn’t shy away from his inner pain and, in doing so, earns our trust right away.

Musically, it’s a very simple album. Primarily consisting of guitar. There are percussive elements and there is a track that adds a piano. 

This stripped-down accompaniment is another big element that adds to this unique atmosphere that Luis has created for the listener. It starts to beckon other senses. Like envisioning a night sky, feeling an ocean breeze, or smelling the salt in the air. In this way, Luis has had a great success in providing his listeners a place to go to listen. “Second Chances,” the title track, progresses in a state of perpetual build. Sustaining chords to end the phrase keep the listener at the edge of the seat throughout the entire song. In the track “Las Cruces, New Mexico,” he sings of his home town as if when he was younger he wanted to leave but, since he didn’t, he’s come to appreciate his home. It resonates in the chorus as Luis displays diversity in his range and experiments with vocal dubbing to give body to the music.

If You Wanted to Get Technical:

I have to admit, I’ve probably listened to this album between 10-20 times since its release. Probably closer to 20. In that time, I’ve explored my analysis from different perspectives. At first, I was the learner. I wanted to learn from the music. Then, I became the critic. I wanted to fix things; “Add this.” “Lose that.” etcetera. Then, as I heard it more and more, I came to realize the experience of the album I was feeling. We have already talked about that. Now, I am going to talk about the critical aspects of the album. 

So much of the album was strong and could have been stronger with the incorporation of a bass guitar or synth bass part. There was a lot of empty space in the lower field of the music. Having a bass part in some of the faster tempo songs would have opened that up. This was something the percussion tried to do in some of the songs. Also, experimenting with vocal harmonization, dubbing, and backing melodies. This would have filled the songs out, vocally. 

The highlights were certainly “Second Chances,” “Burgers and Fries,” and “There’s a Light (in the Darkness).” These songs, to me were real standouts. I loved the piano part  in “There’s a Light. In “Burgers and Fries,” I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I first read the name of the track before I had ever heard it. I thought it was going to be intentionally comical. Then when Luis went into the subject matter, I was given a glimpse into what was to come for the rest of the album. An essence of Ben Folds in his delivery, unique lyrics about watching trash tv and other resonating memories one doesn’t think about incorporating in a song. Like getting “burgers and fries” with a friend. 

If I’m being honest, there are places where the percussion was illogical, technically speaking. Either it was off tempo to the music and vocals or the music and vocals were off tempo to it. Now, from an atmospheric perspective this worked 90% of the time. Think about that driftwood, that impulsive jam session. It’s not going to be all right, but it’s going to be alright. The moment where I feel most critical on the album is with the song “Fly Away.” There are really only two things that distract me from experiencing the song but they do it throughout. The first is there is an unnatural break in the percussion throughout the piece. It sounds like an editing clip that may have been done too soon and then maybe it was looped throughout the song. I’m not sure of the engineering process and I’m not going to speculate. The other is, in the chorus the lyrics get a little jumbled on the second phrase, “I want to Fly Away in the sky and reach for the stars.” If you think about it, this is kind of derivative and there’s an easy fix: simply say “I want to Fly Away and reach for the stars.” The listener can easily imply where you are flying to and it doesn’t sound like you’re in a hurry to get the words out.

My Final Take:

The truth is, there are not a lot of parts to this album where I would suggest changing anything. Technically, could a bass have opened it up? Yes. Could the percussion have been opened up to fill space? Yes. Were there places where things could have been a bit more polished in editing and mixing the album? Yes. Do I think those things should have been done? No. I prefer my seat on the driftwood. Listening to a storyteller tell his story. The album is much more memorable this way. I feel like these songs will be a long-term memory, years from now, because of it. So, my advice to the reader is this: instead of trying to fix the technical imperfections of “Second Chances,” come take a seat with me, celebrate his sobriety and grab a non-alcoholic beverage of your choosing, and be taken away with the emotional perfections. It’s an unforgettable experience.