Within the rock space: Los Angeles-based Levitation Room releases 'Strange Weather,' set to play Sister

For the guys in Los Angeles-based rock band Levitation Room, it’s a race against time on tour.

The band was on its way to Canada for a show and they were running behind.

“It’s stressful,” the band says during a recent interview. “There’s been a lot to get ready for this tour. It seems like this tour, there’s a lot more that had to get done because of the roll-out with the album.”

Within the rock space: Los Angeles-based Levitation Room releases 'Strange Weather,' set to play Sister

Levitation Room released “Strange Weather” on Feb. 16. The band is currently on a co-headlining tour with Brazil-based Boogarins. The tour is slated to make a stop at Sister in Downtown Albuquerque on Friday, March 8.

Levitation Room is led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez and Johnathan Martin. Kevin Perez joined the band in 2021.

The band’s 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 20 million streams.

Levitation Room began working on “Strange Weather” in January 2023, and by early April it was completed.

“There was a lot of back and forth in terms of mixing the album,” the band recalls. “There were also a couple of songs that didn’t make the album.”

For the last decade, Levitation Room has been known for its self-produced, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock.

With “Strange Weather,” the band says it took a conscious shift into all the other sub-pockets within the rock space.

The band collaborated with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick, and The Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow on the new album.

Martin says the record’s lyrical narratives — about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “the world today is such an illusion” — are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere.

“We usually come up with ideas at band practice while we are tightening up the set,” Martin says. “Something will catch one of our ears. It ends up turning into an idea or song. It’s usually a strong collaboration among us.”

Levitation Room also has enough material to fill more than one set and is looking at how to put together the strongest set.

“That’s been a conversation every night,” Martin says. “It all depends on our set time and if we’re closing the night. We talk about it in the van. Lately, that’s where decisions are being made.”