Written by: Madison Wiser

Indie rock band Lightning Bug recently released their new album A Color of the Sky, marking their first album release after adding new band members to enrich their sound. The album displays that enrichment in full, as well as the realizations that songwriter Audrey Kang wanted to infuse the album with.

Kang says of the album that, “I want listeners to explore their own interior worlds. It’s about learning to trust yourself, about being deeply honest with yourself, and about how self-acceptance yields a selfless form of love.”

The album’s first track, “The Return,” eases the listener in with dreamy, twangy guitar. It conveys the album’s anxious thematic start, when Kang sings how she’ll “look at your mind and count the colors I find…” before letting the anxious lyrics dissolve into synths, flutes, and strings. “The Right Thing is Hard to Do” reflects a song that is personal as well as universal, one verse describing hiding in playground nooks while another describes turning a blind eye to climate change. Kang sings over contemplative guitar until the song eventually layers in an entire chorus of swelling strings. 

“A Color of the Sky,” sharing the same name as the album itself, begins with an anticipatory swell of sound, like a string orchestra warming up. Rather than anxiety, this song speaks of assurance, when Kang sings in a warm, sweet voice, “I’ll always be your friend / I love you has no end.” It concludes with synths and high strings, giving the listener time to sit and bask in that peaceful atmosphere of self-assurance the album concludes on. 

A Color of the Sky is now available to stream.