Written as a farewell to her home in California, Lauren Shera's "Light and Dust" introduces the new direction she took on her third studio album, Gold and Rust.
The singer-songwriter, who now lives in East Nashville, told All Songs Considered via email that over the last year, "I kept revisiting it and writing little by little. I thought it would be the perfect opening track to the album as it makes a nice bridge from solo acoustic (the way the songs were written) to full band. So it kind of introduces the sound and the direction of the rest of the album."
The video has all the imagery of a 1970s folk-rock mythology: Shera's long dark hair blowing in the wind while playing guitar barefoot around Austin's scenic McKinney Falls State Park. Walking amongst the wildflowers, cactus, and water, Shera shows her desire to become part of the landscape by painting her arms and face with mud before the song's stirring finale.
Gold and Rust is out now.
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