dustlights

About dustlights

”Dreams Outside" presents the post-jazz instrumental trio dustlights at their collective spirit’s edge, moving in moments, with psychedelic peaks, synergic transitions, and melodic reveries singing and screaming over their signature foundation of minimalist groove and layered effects. Featuring many songs improvised right on stage when they toured their critically-acclaimed 2018 debut “In A Stillness”, dustlights’ second release with Ropeadope Records captures the raw energy and sonic explorations of true live performance, while still delving deeply into the same core of dark beautiful moods that led critics to compare them to Portishead, Tortoise, Morphine, and Dungen. 

While the first conversational utterances of the band started in Brooklyn circa 2016, dustlights are now a long-term and long-distance collaboration between Carrboro, NC- based saxophonist Joe Wilson and the Brooklyn-based drums and bass of David Christian and Ran Livneh. During their formative seasons in South Brooklyn, the trio of freelance musicians met regularly in secret dens to experiment, revise, and gradually define a songwriting process and a vibe that resonates with genres and mood-based art beyond the usual ideas of “sax trio”, without rejecting the organic and intimate possibilities inherent to that. The sessions culminated in their full-length debut “In A Stillness” which earned a long-time spot on Spotify ’s heavily curated “The State of Jazz” playlist, as well as radio play in Europe and the USA, while jazz, jam band, and underground music critics wrote inspired reviews relating the record to classic trip hop, post rock, a new wave of “jazzbient” artists, and more abstract images like flickering candlelight and tectonic shifts. 

Dustlights are led by the one-hand-on-one-hand-off-the-wheel saxophone/fx visionary Joe Wilson, a veteran of many underground NYC and HTown funk, alternative world music, and jazz fusion bands, who has played around the world in most types of gigs a working horn player can get. He has performed and/or recorded with Vieux Farka Touré, George E. Lewis, Archie Bell, Fred Thomas (of The JB’s), Pocketsounds, Captain Planet, Karikatura, La Pachamambo, Nick Gaitan, The Free Radicals, Zozo Afrobeat, The Jomion Brothers, The Tokyo Swings Big Band, and dozens of other situations. He has also composed, produced, and performed music for film, theater, and TV. Recently relocated to Carrboro, NC, Wilson shares insights of his artistic journey and craft to a growing roster of students. 

Drummer David Christian has been an active performer, promoter, and documentarian in the New York City area since the early 2000s. He’s performed and recorded worldwide with a wide variety of artists including Karen O & Danger Mouse, Curtis Harding, Sharon Van Etten, Sam Cohen, Benjamin Booker, Opsvik & Jennings, Kelis, Ex Hex, Angel Olsen, Mary Timony, King Tuff, Hospitality, Cut Worms, and many more. Christian played a role as show booker and show runner in the early years of the world-famous Brooklyn DIY venue Death By Audio, and in 2014 he created and produced the documentary web series “Liner Note Legends,” profiling veteran session musicians from the 1960s to the current day. 

Ran Livneh is an upright and electric bassist and composer originally from Israel, now living in Brooklyn, NYC. As a leader Ran actively performs his original compositions with electro-acoustic groups Tea Masters and The Underground Spiritual Game around NYC. As a sideman, he has performed and toured with Anbessa Orchestra, Gili Yalo, Ismael Kouyate, Friend Roulette, Zozo Afrobeat, Marc Miralta, and Berry Shaharof, to name a few.Featured

Press from 2018:

“On In A Stillness, the sax/bass/drums threesome is like well-designed mood lighting. Quiet and thoughtful, beautifully minimal, this is background music for the foreground, occasionally feeling like an instrumental Morphine on morphine.” - Jambase“

Saxophonist Joe Wilson, drummer David Christian and bassist Ran Livneh make judicious use of electronic effects, and its harmonic influence is the sign of its strength. Every now and then, I field a “what next” question, both for people looking to get into modern jazz and those just looking for similar music to explore. If Portishead is the foundation of that what-next question, then Dustlights would make a fine answer. They’ve got just enough post-jazz in their delivery to make it an easy crossover from ambient rock tastes.” - Bird is the Worm

“dustlights’ enveloping debut album In a Stillness has a vastness you’d never expect from just a trio of sax, bass and drums. Part trip-hop, part stoner soundscape and part postrock, like Tortoise at their most concise, it’s music to get lost in. Put this on and drift off to a better place.” - New York Music Daily