THE LAVENDER FLU 'Barbarian Dust' LP

In contrast to their prior mobile-unit hole-ups and home-taped fryers, Barbarian Dust, the third album from LAVENDER FLU, marks the band’s first raid of a proper studio.  Extending the formalities further, the conceptual impetus for the sessions stems from a collective meditation on cosmic biker rock.  Smokey, sure --- and that peculiar, chunky ether seeps into the resulting collection --- but it all ultimately serves to a liquid frame, a set of parameters imposed purely to burst through.  Compositionally and thematically, Barbarian Dust alternates between hope and anger, each idealized, a sway thoughtfully achieved through an often-soaring, occasionally busted version of rock heaviness (without ever approaching “Heavy Rock”, thank heaven/hell).  In every sense of the word, it’s their most aggressive work to date.