Lightning Dreamers is new work by composer, trumpeter, post-rock and avant-jazz legend Rob Mazurek (Isotope 217, Chicago Underground), who wrote the music for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra. The album is dedicated to the late artist jaimie branch (who was a protégé of Mazurek's), and features guitarist Jeff Parker, vocalist Damon Locks, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn, among others. It was recorded mostly at the remote Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas, not far from Mazurek's current home in Marfa, with mixing and post-production at IARC studios in Chicago. The album is a follow-up to Mazurek and ESO's widely-acclaimed release Dimensional Stardust, which charted an 8.0 in Pitchfork and #5 in The New York Times' Best Jazz Albums of 2020.