Biography

Dark and synth-friendly indie rock duo Lightning Dust started out as a side project for members of Vancouver heavy rock institution Black Mountain, but as years went by the project grew to become a primary focus. The band's brooding, atmospheric rock progressed on several albums, taking a turn toward more electronic elements on 2013's Fantasy, 2019's Spectre, and 2023's Nostalgia Killer. Lightning Dust was formed in the mid-2000s by Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, both founding members of Black Mountain. The duo contrasted Black Mountain's loud and sinister guitar rock with a more subdued, folkier approach on their self-titled 2007 debut. They continued touring and recording with both projects, returning with the elegant and meditative sophomore album Infinite Light in 2009. In 2010, they were chosen by curator Matt Groening to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Their third album Fantasy arrived in 2013, marking a sonic shift toward minimal electronic beats with synth textures augmenting the band's sophisticated songcraft. In 2017, Webber and Wells parted ways with Black Mountain to focus on Lightning Dust full time. They spent the better part of the next year writing and refining their fourth album, Spectre, a collection of material that pushed their electronic templates into more experimental territory. The album was released in late 2019. The band planned a tour with David Berman's post-Silver Jews project Purple Mountains, but it was ultimately undone by Berman's death just months before the tour would have started. Romantically linked for over a decade, Webber and Wells broke up later that year, and Lightning Dust was put on hiatus. The duo eventually elected to keep their musical relationship alive and recorded the tracks for their fifth album remotely in their respective home studios. Released in 2023, Nostalgia Killer saw Webber and Wells deliver an inventive and inward-looking set of potent synth-rockers with help from guitarist Rob Butterfield and violinist Meredith Bates. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi