by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Last year saw Lightleak, the solo project turned collaborative effort of Dustin Currier, release their full length debut album, Tender Fits. Out via Model Love Songs, the record expanded upon Currier’s previous work under the D.H. Currier moniker and brought along more than a few familiar faces to make his vision of big cinematic indie rock come to life. Mixed by none other than the legendary Chad Clark (Beauty Pill) and featuring contributions from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz, Sad13), Vivian McConnell (V.V. Lightbody), Krystal Rosenbrock (Wet Tropics), Seth Engel (Options), Ben Grigg (Babe Report, Geronimo!), and Logan Bloom (Mush), the album flourishes amid the grandiose songwriting and the layers of texture that all bring to the table. In celebration of the record’s release show at Uncle Gallery in Chicago, the band filmed a performance of “(Boys) Must Not Be”.
The live band, comprised of Currier, Grigg, Engel, Bloom, Rosenbrock, Emma McCall (Tasha), Kyle Johns (Cut Teeth), and Kate Grube (Kittyhawk), took to their (mostly) striped attire, to bust out one of the record’s standout moments, a blinking lights ballad of indie rock at its least predictable. With Grigg and Bloom handling trumpet and trombone respectively, they open the track with an otherworldly weariness, a psychedelic sensibility that gets swallowed as the band come sweeping in. There’s a big crooning swagger to Currier’s songwriting, but with elements of so many influences and a blurring of stylistic approaches, Lightleak really dig into a sound their own.