ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Lightning Bug
Lightning Bug is Audrey Kang, Kevin Copeland, Logan Miley, Dane Hagen and Vincent Puleo// Photo by Ingmar Chen
Although Lightning Bug released their debut album Floaters way back in 2015, I only recently discovered their music after the release of their single “September Song, pt, II.” The new single instantly drew me in with lead singer Audrey Kang’s lulling and gentle vocal tones, paired with the dazzling melody, and led me on a deeper dive of the band’s catalog. The softness of Kang’s voice acts as an anchor for all of Lightning Bug’s releases—In the track “Vision Scraps” from the sophomore record October Song, distorted guitars create a juxtaposition with Kang’s voice. We hear a similar contrast with the fuzzed out intro of “The Luminous Plane,” yet we remain grounded by the ethereal vocals.
Mostly based in New York, Lightning Bug is the project of Audrey Kang, Kevin Copeland, Logan Miley, Dane Hagen and Vincent Puleo. Along with the new single release for “September Song, pt, II,” Lightning Bug also announced their third album A Color of the Sky will be released June 25th via Fat Possum Records. The group of musicians recorded most of the album together as a live band, which they say gave this third record a more dynamic and organic feel than their past albums.
About their latest single, Kang said it came to her in the summer of 2018 when she spent a month camping on a small island in the Baltic Sea. “There I was in the north off the coast of Stockholm, the sun was setting insanely late, like at 11pm and it took hours longer than normal. So I'd watch it disappear, this glowing orb sink into the sea every night to the point where I felt kind of insane, like I was hallucinating...and I started reliving memories but they felt like they were right before me and then I felt confused, was I reliving memories, or seeing into the future? I kept thinking to myself, each end is a beginning, each end is a beginning. So this surreal experience with time lay dormant in me, and then an entire year later, I was camping in the PNW, also on the shore, and I watched the sun sink into the sea, and suddenly those sunsets from Sweden rippled through me again very vividly. And when I came back to New York, I wrote this song,” she describes.
In addition to the new album, Lightning Bug has made the exciting announcement of live shows returning! The band will support BULLY on a string of dates in September. Make sure you snag your tickets and preorder A Color of the Sky here.