Dust Star hail from the West Coast, where there’s currently something very much in the water that’s quickly establishing the region as a major hub for power-pop. The Joshua Tree–based duo of Justin Jurgens and Cameron Wisch allegedly conjured the idea for the project on an acid trip in the desert, setting the groundwork for a project that would echo the Denton-set garage punk of the early Dirtnap roster as much as it does the modern iteration of the power-pop movement spearheaded by artists like Young Guv and Mo Troper.
The video for the latest single from the group’s debut album Open Up That Heart sees them experiencing a different type of psychedelic experience after encountering a cactus. While the lyrics for “Can’t Stop Thinkin’ of You” take on certain relationship hardships—“It's about navigating confusion, miscommunication, and about doing a deep inner investigation of your subconscious beliefs that may be clouding the situation,” Wisch notes—the video playfully answers the question, “What would it look like if a cactus made your hands be on fire?”
“The concept for the video began with the silly idea of us being enamored with a cactus,” adds Wisch, who prior to co-launching the project spent time in bands including Porches, Ra Ra Riot, and Cende. “As the video evolved it became a story about getting emotionally hurt and learning how to heal. A recurring theme in our songs is the hardships we’ve experienced in relationships, the times when we’ve been wounded—pricked by a cactus, so to speak—and then learned how to process and transform the pain of those experiences.”
Watch the clip below, and pre-order Open Up That Heart here.
