Music, as always, situates you in a time and place. To hear a drum intro, or guitar riff, or the opening words of a chorus you remember screaming along to at some tiny gig in a venue with dubious adherence to fire regulations. Or a shift in your own circumstances, perhaps?
2008. A year of missing out on sleep. A new baby. A new home. Loss and grief, too.
The Shaky Hands reminds me of painting my kitchen, of being stuck on the sofa snuggled with my child gently snoring against my shoulder as he finally crashed out after a feed. It was playing in the car on the way to scatter my Mum’s ashes into the woodland where she loved to walk. It’s soundtracked a lot of different moods and feelings, has Lunglight.
Listening recently, it transported me back to that time, but it also reminded me what a fucking great album it is.
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, at a time when the city was mostly known for another jangly indie band and their song which became the background to a certain mobile phone company. Dandy, you might say.
Lunglight, though, was different. It had way more energy, a lot more punk in its veins, songs that spoke of sweaty basement gigs and spilt beer. The vocals calling something urgent and primal from within. Staccato guitar and drum licks that carry you along, giving a sense of speed even when the tempo slows, most obvious on songs Loosen Up and We Are Young.
The engine of the band for this, their second album, were the brothers, Nick and Nathan Delffs. However, it was a band in which every member brought something unique that, when pulled together on songs like Settle On, You’re The Light, and final song, Oh No, demonstrates why they’re an Unspun Hero. On Lunglight, here was a band on the verge of something and their music spelled it out better than any words I can write down.
It wasn’t to be, though. Still, we are left with 13 brilliant tracks that captured their youthful energy and dynamism. Listen on their Bandcamp page.