"Lightning Bugs Are Smiling" is the new album from The Silent Boys.

Lightning Bugs Are Smiling finds Richmond, Virginia indie-pop veterans The Silent Boys continuing a musical story that stretches back to the mid-1980s. Bandleader, vocalist and songwriter Wallace Dietz originally formed the group during the heyday of college-radio guitar pop, drawing inspiration from the jangling, melodic post-punk associated with the C86 era and labels such as Postcard and Factory. The Silent Boys became regulars in Richmond's downtown rock clubs before Dietz dissolved the band in 1991 as family responsibilities and career moves scattered its members. Recordings from that first incarnation subsequently surfaced on indie-pop compilations during the late 1990s, prompting Dietz to reform The Silent Boys in 1999 and begin a second, remarkably durable chapter of recording.

That persistence eventually produced albums including One Step Closer, Princess By the Sea, By the Light of the Moon and 2022's Sand to Pearls, Coal to Diamonds. The latter connected the band with French indie label Too Good To Be True, which introduced their music to a broader international audience. For Lightning Bugs Are Smiling, Too Good To Be True joins forces with U.S. indie-pop label Shelflife Records, giving a band that spent years embracing a 'willfully obscure' existence a new platform for its lovingly crafted guitar pop.

Dietz is joined by several longtime collaborators. Original member John Suchocki supplies lead guitar and backing vocals, bringing the distinctive surf- and jazz-tinged guitar lines that have long colored the band's songs, while John Morand's drums give the new material a danceable retro pulse. Grant Oliver, also Dietz's bandmate in The Grain Hoppers, plays bass, at times evoking the melodic propulsion of New Order. Newest member Dan-O Deckelman contributes keyboards throughout the album--the first Silent Boys release to feature keyboards on every track--and his atmospheric textures reinforce the record's unmistakable connection to '80s indie pop. Deckelman also produced, engineered and mixed the album at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, with Justin Perkins mastering at Mystery Room Mastering.

Across 10 songs including 'Soul Of The Sea,' 'Clocks,' 'The Whistle Blower,' 'Let's Pick Up At The Chorus,' 'Think Of Me,' 'Jackie Blue,' 'Number 7,' 'Six Milk Bottles,' 'Over The Rainbow' and 'Where Have My Dreams Gone?,' Lightning Bugs Are Smiling combines dreamy jangle pop, melodic guitar interplay, retro keyboards and Dietz's thoughtful songwriting. 'Soul Of The Sea,' written by Carlie and Wallace Dietz, evokes coastal memories through images of halyards, seagulls, crab boats, sandy shores and sunsets, while the album as a whole continues the group's longstanding dialogue with classic British and American underground guitar pop. More than four decades after The Silent Boys first emerged from Richmond's club scene, Lightning Bugs Are Smiling demonstrates how naturally their C86-inspired aesthetic fits within today's renewed appreciation for melodic indie and jangle pop.

Track Listing

• Soul Of The Sea
• Clocks
• The Whistle Blower
• Let's Pick Up At The Chorus
• Think Of Me
• Jackie Blue
• Number 7
• Six Milk Bottles
• Over The Rainbow
• Where Have My Dreams Gone?

Additional Details

Label: Shelflife

Genre: Pop/Rock

Language: English

Run Time: 45:00 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 11/06/26

UPC: 759159696724