The Fog Lights

The Fog Lights have been a long time coming.

After their careers took them in different directions, high school friends Justin Johnson and Jim Peters stayed connected through annual dinners at King Edward’s Fried Chicken. In those years they matured as songwriters and musicians in well-loved bands Pretty Little Empire and Jump Starts (Johnson), and The Provels and The Upright Animals (Peters).

After a year of playing shows and recording, their album “Manhassett” debuted on July 25th. The first single – “Lead the Way” – features the pair’s sweet, high harmonies and dual acoustic guitars, backed with brushed drums and bursts of harmonica. Under it all, gently subversive banjo anchors the folked-up aesthetic that runs through the album. Loaded with chirped strums and warm harmonies, “Manhassett” is minimalist and delicate, sometimes forgoing instruments for punctuated a cappella single lines. Their cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” ditches genre cliches, turning the goth classic’s angry rumble into the fragility of a breaking heart.