Luxury Flux returns with ‘For Rent’

In April 2017, Luxury Flux released its remarkable debut album and seemed to be on an upward trajectory in Lansing’s music scene. The self-titled disc combined minimalistic art-rock with early post-punk and dreamy indie melodies.  

And while the outfit echoed their shared love of bands like Wire, Television and The Talking Heads, Luxury Flux brought something new and distinct to local venues. The band’s unofficial mantra, “punk is whatever we make it to be,” a Mike Watt quote, sums up the Lansing-based group’s distinct sound. 

But shortly after the record was pressed, the band split up, and the members — Lindsey Taylor (guitar, vocals), Stephen Woida Jr. (vocals drums, synth) and bassist Sam Makula — moved on to other musical projects.  

“We disbanded about a year after, mostly due to ego battles and just having run the gamut of the indie rock scene in Michigan,” Taylor recalled. “We played many shows and met many great people during the 2015-2018 era, but it felt like we hit the ceiling a little bit. When we were apart, we all played in different projects to fill in the gaps.”  

In the downtown time, Taylor formed La La Delivery and issued the single “Lax​-​a​-​daisy Freaks,” an equally impressive 2019 solo outing. She also contributed a cover “As We Go Up, We Go Down” to a 2022 Guided By Voices tribute compilation. 

Though, what was supposed to be a permanent breakup morphed into a hiatus. In the summer of 2021, Luxury Flux reconnected. 

“It seemed like enough time had passed, and we could come at things from a more mature angle,” Taylor said. 

By winter 2021, the reunited trio recorded new material at Blight Audio in Lansing. The result is the newly issued comeback single “For Rent.” The track was recorded by engineer Ryan Bliton and mixed and mastered by Corey DeRushia at Troubadour Recording Studios. 

Even with the lengthy pause behind them, “For Rent” shows the band returning in top form and sounding more relaxed than ever. So what inspired this poppy new melody?  

“Varying degrees of our immediate surroundings during that time such as the pandemic, enduring winter in Michigan, and dealing with tough people,” Taylor said. “The opening line is ‘you’re so entertaining/you’re a cinematic scene.’ It is a little bit of an observation of how wild it can be to observe someone who you can’t reason with.   

“At some point during a conversation, I believe Sam said ‘it’s a gift to give,’ so we threw that in there,” she added. “Stephen and I sit down together, hash out whatever comes to mind, and edit later. It always tends to come out a little ambiguous at that point, so everything is up to the listener’s interpretation.”  

And while there is no full-length record in the works, this is no one-off release. Taylor said the band is writing and plans to keep busy. 

“We are currently focused on recording and releasing songs one by one as they get finished,” she said. 

LISTEN:
Luxury Flux 
facebook.com/Luxuryflux 

Listen to “For Rent” on Spotify or at: 
luxuryflux.bandcamp.com