Lung
Fog
Self-Released
Formed in the late 1980’s, Lung created waves with a series of well-received releases (John Peel was an early champion) that encapsulated the ethos of alternative rock. After a lengthy hiatus, the band was resurrected in the 2010’s and their latest album, Fog, finds them in a ruddy health. With slabs of dense, impenetrable sonics punctuated by stark segments of white space, the opening track ‘Isolated Gun’ is dizzying and disorienting, encasing the listener in the mists to which the title refers. A direct lineage can be traced to New York’s “no wave” scene, yet New Zealand’s relative isolation from a music industry based in the northern hemisphere has undoubtedly helped Lung formulate a sound all their very own, and it’s to their credit that songs such as ‘Panda’ resemble no one but themselves. Yet nothing exists within a vacuum, and various influences can’t help but bleed into their sound: ‘TR*UNT’ is an unstoppable dirge of Sabbath proportions, whilst ‘eXtra Spank’ is pushed to the edge of a precipice and perched there precariously for several heart-stopping moments, evidencing the same mastery of music as Sonic Youth. Fog finds the haze clearing to reveal an original album, and one signposting a bright future.
https://www.facebook.com/LungCactii
Review by Peter Dennis