Lightning Bug announced their third album (and first on Fat Possum), “A Color of the Sky“, out June 5th. Singer/songwriter Audrey Kang and company also shared its lead single, “The Right Thing Is Hard to Do,” along with an animated music video. “The Right Thing Is Hard to Do” is an atmospheric, guitar-driven ballad, with a gorgeous drone that Kang’s vocals illuminate, like a spotlight shining through the night sky. The song’s reflective lyrics find Kang recalling her idyllic childhood, and the way that reckoning with her emotions grew more difficult as she got older; she connects this rising anxiety to our current political climate (“So they say they’ll build a wall […] And turn away those seeking shelter most of all”), ultimately upholding love over doubt and fear. Lightning Bug’s lush instrumentation intertwines with Kang’s hopeful lyrics, and “The Right Thing Is Hard to Do” as a whole fortifies the spirit, convincing you that a better world is possible.
Kang’s otherworldly vocals, trickling acoustics, well-placed distortion flare-ups, all of it like shadowy images viewed through a misty, rainy day — just like all the best dream-pop the band is drawing upon.
A lightning bug glows with the aid of a chemical called luciferin, derived from Latin for “light-bringer”. Lightning Bug began as three friends who made music together to bring each other light. The music we make continues to hold that purpose at its heart. The music of Lightning Bug is an attempt to record the deepest experiences in the self and connect them outward.” – Audrey Kang
Grounded in a tightly knit friendship and an intuitive musical bond, Lightning Bug’s music, an enveloping mix of rapturous shoegaze, longing balladry, and ambient soundscapes, sits at the centerpoint of a creative exchange among songwriter Audrey Kang, multi-instrumentalist Kevin Copeland, and producer Logan Miley. Despite a knack for sonic eclecticism, each Lightning Bug record holds a magnetic sense of cohesion. Lyrically, the songs document Audrey navigating a relationship with her own humanity, memories fraught with joy and pain, and the constant cycle of tension and release necessary in developing self-trust. Lightning Bug’s music is then the manifestation of dialogues: a musical dialogue amongst members of a sacred creative partnership and an internal one as Audrey plumbs the depths of her own foundation.
2019’s October Song (released via Marbled Arm) marked Lightning Bug’s second full-length offering, the follow up to the largely anonymous release of their self-titled debut Floaters. Earning an 8.0 from Pitchfork and a spot on NME’s best debut albums of 2015 respectively, Lightning Bug have emerged as one of the musical underground’s most fertile sources for textured world-building and soaring catharsis.
‘The Right Thing Is Hard To Do’ from Lightning Bug’s new album ‘A Color of the Sky’ out on June 25th, 2021. on Fat Possum Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 