The Lightning Bug Situation
| December 8, 2007 | ||
| 9:00 pm |
The Lightning Bug Situation is the solo project of San Francisco guitarist and songwriter Brian Miller, whose new album, A Leaf, A Stream is a beautiful collection of ethereal pop songs influenced by the birth of his daughter and intensely personal moments and recollections of himself, his family, and his friends. A CD release show is being held this Saturday at Amnesia (853 Valencia between 19th & 20th) with special guests The Antiques and The Vision of a Dying World (who will also be The Lightning Bug Situation’s backing band).
The album features recordings of people telling various anecdotes from their lives, which range from funny to nostalgic to almost disturbingly personal, as on “Hitting’s Not Very Effective When You Don’t Have Much of a Punch”, where a woman describes her abusive ex-boyfriend and her attempts to fight back. This, combined with lyrics that cover the thoughts of a new father (on “A Message To Myself After Franny Was Born”, a song driven by harmonized vocals, piano and slide guitar), the experience of putting a pet to sleep (”Topher’s Dead”), and a melancholic fan letter to a musician (”For Dave K.”), gives the album the feeling of reading someone’s diary, and all the intrigue, and at times uncomfortable-ness, that goes with it.
The crescendoing “Iraqi Man and Baby Daughter, 2007″ is a highlight of the album, reflecting the reality and personal horror of wars. It features samples of Dave Mihaly’s string quartet piece “Influences of the Invisible”. Overall, an excellent, ambitious album in its entirety, from Miller, who has played guitar with Jolie Holland for the past eight years (including on Catalpa, Escondida, and Springtime Can Kill You).
In addition, the album has some rabid fans, one of whom is convinced that the album was meant to be an alternative score for Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Solaris:
