Lightning Dust, aka Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, have been quietly releasing beautifully ornate folksy rock records since 2007. The two former members of Black Mountain started Lightning Dust while still in the Canadian stoner/doom/prog rock outfit, using the project as a means to write more pop-oriented material.
Webber’s vocals are one-of-a-kind, putting her in a category with giants like Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell. But Amber Webber has her own unique vibe, giving Lightning Dust’s songs a mystical, ethereal quality. Wells and Webber have created four very distinct records as Lightning Dust, each one pushing their sound in new directions while still keeping true to them. The band’s last album, last year’s Spectre, pushed Lightning Dust’s sound further into darker, more Gothic realms.
On July 23rd Amber Webber and Joshua Wells will release a new 2-song Lightning Dust EP titled Material Life with Western Vinyl. But you can hear the title track “Material Life” today.
Webber said this about the track:
It came up after a summer of shroom doom and confusion; addressing the moments in life when you’ve lost the plot, have no clue which direction is up, or how you got to where you landed. I wanted to write a song that’d be fun to play at festivals and easy to mess around with and change up live. Something the wild hearts could boogie to.
“Material Life” is a gorgeous jangly track, something you could indeed imagine hearing at some outdoor festival. It seems like it’s been decades since I’ve been to a festival, but I can almost hear Webber’s harmonies echoing through some fantastical valley, accompanied by organ, percussion, and jangly electric guitar. Gone are the electronic undertones of Fantasy and the dark, Gothic nature of Spectre. “Material Life” captures the spontaneity and organic nature of how the song came to be, and shows Webber and Wells in striking creative form.
Material Life EP will be released on 7/23 via Western Vinyl. Lightning Dust will also be playing a Twitch livestream show on 7/24. For more info go here.
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