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Aug 19, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Lightning Dust

Lightning Dust (Amber Webber and Josh Wells) are releasing a new album, Spectre, on October 4 via Western Vinyl. Now they have shared another song from the album, “Led Astray,” via a video for the track. Justin Gradin directed the quirky video, which features butterflies, smoking ghosts, and more. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Webber had this to say about the song and video in a press release: “‘Led Astray’—when the goblin inside our brain leads us on a trip though all the ugly sides of reality—steering us away from all our 500-thread count, buttery-smooth satin sheets, leaving us questioning our sanity and mortality. When I wrote this song, it was a slow, heavily reverbed-out ballad, a basic guitar/vocals number. Josh gave it the Kinks treatment with a sprinkle of Oasis tremolo guitar and a cosmic synth lead. The video was all Justin Gradin! He led us all through a butterfly-injured mindscape that leaves us in the hands of our ghost spaghetti guide and leads us to a sick parking lot jam between a punk lion, a hippie penguin and a jailbird monkey.”

Previously Lightning Dust shared Spectre‘s first single, album opener “Devoted To” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Spectre features Stephen Malkmus and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar .

Lightning Dust was previously a side-project for the Vancouver, BC-based duo of Amber Webber and Josh Wells, back when they were in Black Mountain. But in 2017 they both left the mother ship to focus solely on Lightning Dust and this is their first album since then. In 2018 Webber went back to school and tried out a new career, before music came calling again.

“It made me realize that art and music are still my light,” Webber explains in a press release. “Spectre is my journey. It’s for all the women warriors that have been battling throughout life looking for a place to express themselves that feels inclusive and inspiring. It’s about finding yourself when no one is paying attention and inventing a new way of creating that feels honest and sincere. I truly feel that women, especially as we age, are underrepresented. That was truly the driving force to creating this album.”

Malkmus plays guitar on “A Pretty Picture” and Bejar contributes guest vocals “Competitive Depression.”

Lightning Dust Tour Dates:

8/28 - Toronto, ON @ The Monarch Tavern
8/29 - Montreal, QC @ L’Esco Bar
9/12 - Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown

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