Jagjaguwar Releases New Lightning Dust Track – “I Knew”

All of the Memorial Day festivities left us at a loss for words this morning.  All three of us had plenty to do Monday and we weren’t in any position to get any album reviews up today.  It also happens to be a crazy time of year in the public school employee world.  Kids are freaking goofy and all of the last minute meetings and end of the year nonsense unfortunately take precedence over the blog.  We’ve got to keep our day jobs for now, so we’re going to have to suck it up and do what bossman asks of us until the early parts of June.  That said, if you happened to show up this morning and saw the same post up as yesterday, you get our deepest apologies.  Thanks to JagJaguwar dropping this lovely email to us this afternoon, we’re back in the saddle.  You’re going to like this track.

Founding members of Black Mountain, Amber Webber and Joshua Wells are pumping out their second Lightning Dust effort, Infinite Light, on August 4th and the label released “I Knew” for the blogosphere today.  It’s no secret how high I am on both Pink Mountaintops and Black Mountain (I can’t stop spinning the PM album), and one of the major reasons is Amber Webber.  Her smoky vocals are top notch in the released track and we’re excited to snag this album early as it’s supposed to be a bit more lofty and full than their first release.

The press release uses the term “musical theater” in describing the new album, and makes references to the inspiring sounds and breakaway from Webber and Wells’ minimalist debut.  This has my interest piqued because I like Webber when she’s at her most tense and gritty, haunting behind crushing psychedelic synthesizers.  Webber’s beginning to step outward on her own here, and this is apparent, not only in her croons from the new Pink Mountaintops release, but also in the more full and lively sound of this newest release.  The undercurrent is a thumping instrument (please leave a comment if you know what it is) that rises into a sludgy synthesizer that keeps this song completely out of the pop realm.  Webber warbles and sings her guts out up close, not far away and distant from her other projects.  This is her animal and she’s doing it well.  Look for more coverage on the the release as it nears and enjoy the tune.  Or, if you live in one of three cities, check out Lightning Dust in one of these three places.  They’re gearing up for a tour in the fall to promote the album, so we’ll get you those dates when they release them.

Lightning Dust – “I Knew”

5/26 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive w/Cotton Jones

5/27 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court w/Cotton Jones

5/29 – Seattle, WA – Triple Door w/Cotton Jones