Enter the Universe of Lights

Juno-award winner Lights has just released her first full-length album, The Listening. Her unique mix of keyboards, beats and electric guitar blends beautifully with her melodic voice, perfectly complementing her upbeat style of synth/electropop. I recently caught up with Lights over the phone to discuss her music, her alternate universe and her love for comics.

YT: As a child you travelled a lot because of your parents’ involvement with the missionary. How did being exposed to different places and cultures influence your musical style and taste?

Lights: I wouldn’t say that I was so much inspired or influenced by the actual music of those cultures as much as I was by the experience of moving around and seeing the whole world.

I remember when I was living in the Philippines, I mean, there is a lot of poverty there and a lot of my friends had nothing so we had to sit around and make our own fun and our own choices. I’ve kind of applied those ideas and life concepts to my music, you know? I don’t need the most expensive gear or the craziest equipment to achieve the sounds that I needed – just a matter of knowing what I want and making it happen. Plus, I mean, moving around really set me up for the touring.

YT: Which artists/bands did you listen to when you were growing up and is there any particular artist that has inspired the direction of your music?

Lights: Growing up I was subject to a lot of my Dad’s taste like Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, The Police and so I was listening to a lot of really great songs basically, and powerful musicians, which I think influenced me in a lot of good ways.

But one of the major artists who has inspired me is Björk. Especially my music now, she approaches lyrics in a really clever and creative way which is inspiring and you can tell she’s kind of in charge of her own production and her own direction and that’s inspiring to see. She’s kind of her own genre, she does her own thing, she’s not limited and that’s something I kind of intend to do.

YT: You’ve had your music played in commercials and TV shows. What did winning the 2009 Juno Award for Best New Artist do for your career?

Lights: Well, it didn’t so much influence myself or my career as it just made me feel great. The fact that it was like a big nod of approval from the credible music minds of our country, I mean it was a really, really great moment.

It was kind of just a marker of success that said you’re doing the right thing and that was more what made it special to me. And I guess I joined the ranks of the other people who had previously won. I know Feist won at one point and Nelly Furtado, so it’s a very, very cool feeling. Instead of adding pressure to me, it kind of took pressure away in a sense. Because I mean I’ve done things the way I’ve wanted to do them my whole career. I’ve done things almost independently for a long time [with] a small close network of people who really do it because they love it and knowing that this can be appreciated and respected and we can stand tall alongside everything else great that comes out of Canada, that’s a pretty cool feeling… so I’m going to keep on doing that.

YT: How does it feel to have released your debut full-length album?

Lights: Well, it feels great. I mean up until this point it’s only been on my EP and having the new record out, well for starters, I feel more legit as an artist than ever. Plus it’s great to be able to do a show and have everyone know all the songs. For a while there, I was playing songs that weren’t actually released yet so nobody really knew them, so only half the songs people really knew. It’s cool being able to do a show with everyone singing along and everything and the reception seems to be great so far.

I’m getting a lot of positive comments and reviews and as much as I try to avoid reviews, because there’s always going to be the negative stuff, everything that I’ve seen has been really awesome and I feel 100 per cent so exited about it.

YT: After releasing your Lights EP in 2008, did you already have a good idea of the direction you wanted The Listening to take or did your new songs just naturally fit with the tracks you released on your EP?

Lights: The new songs naturally fit with what was going on in the EP because that’s the way I write. And I was progressing along as a lyricist and a songwriter and a producer along the way, getting a little bit better with each song. So you can see some changes in that but at the core of it it’s still me so I can’t change direction too much. But the EP was meant to be sort of… I consider it sort of like the appetizer to what was actually the full meal, that was the album so it’s bound to be in the same vain for sure.

YT: You’ve said that your sound is inspired from your alternate universe. How would you describe that universe?

Lights: It’s a beautiful world where there are no limits and you can create anything you want. I’ve invented everything in it and it’s kind of inspiring grounds because you can come up with a crazy idea or sound or an invention or a visual, and as long as you have the means and the know-how to draw it into life, you have created that much more of your universe... so it’s just kind of like a big metaphor for all things surrounding my music.

YT: Some of your songs on this album are about love. Are these songs about personal experiences?

Lights: There are actually only two that are really written about romantic situations and the rest are pretty much written about just me learning about myself. Take one like Saviour, which was written one of those nights when everybody gets, like when you feel really low, it was me just kind of calling out because I felt, really, really low. And like The Listening where I learned it was kind of like that moment where I felt tired of the way I always talk so fast and shoot my mouth off before I think about it and that’s kind of the result of that. Most of the songs are just a lesson learned about myself and that being said, I’ve learned so much about myself over the course of making that record.

YT: It’s neat you’ve created something so beautiful out of something so dark.

Lights: Seriously, thank you so much. It’s definitely an ambition at firs. It’s almost a therapeutic approach to songwriting and it’s unfortunate as a songwriter that you kind of get caught in that vicious cycle where you write the best when you’re at that low point so you know that they’re going to come and you kind of need them.

YT: What would you like listeners to take away from your album?

Lights: What I would like is a little bit of what I learned about myself to be noticed by some people and maybe to help them in their discoveries of themselves as well. Or just nice music to listen to… I mean, I try to make music that I would love to put on in my car and just listen to when I’m driving or something, that’s really easy on my ears and enjoyable, and kind of creative and kind of tweak your ear a bit because it’s going to be a bit of sounds that you haven’t heard before… with a nice beat at the bottom of it to kind of keep things flowing so it should be an easy listening experience and maybe you’ll take a little bit of positivity away from it.

YT: You’ve been featured on Ten Second Epic’s Every Day and on The Februarys’ EP. How did those collaborations come about?

Lights: They’re actually friends of mine and with The Februarys, when they would come out and tour in Ontario, they would stay at my place and at the night when they weren’t doing a show, we would sit around and just write songs or record something in my little studio. So the way those came about was very much in that way where it was very organic and we’re just sitting around and doing vocals and stuff together. It was really just so much fun with them. With Ten Second Epic, the same thing, they’re friends of mine and of course I said, “yes” [to working with them] because I think they’re fantastic and they’re wonderful guys.

YT: Would you ever consider doing something with Owl City?

Lights: I would love to! We’re going to go out on tour for a couple months next year so it would be really fitting. We just started talking and e-mailing. He’s awesome, kind of supporting each other for years just you know on his Myspace and stuff, but we just started talking so maybe there will be something coming out I hope so.

YT: How’s the tour going so far?

Lights: It’s fantastic! It’s actually blowing my mind, especially here on the west coast. Like we did LA and San Fran and both shows were sold out so it’s really exiting to come to these towns and headline for the first time and see that you really are making an impact and there are people singing along. It’s a really cool feeling.

YT: How would you describe a typical Lights concert?

Lights: Um, filled with music (laughs). There’s really no other way to put it. I mean, it’s a blast. I have so much fun and no matter what mood I’m in, whether tired or down or happy or crying before I go on stage, I’m always cheered up when I’m up there. It’s kind of a lose-yourself experience. Everyone’s singing along and one of the things I love about seeing people sing back is that it kind of unifies the whole room. Nobody’s an individual anymore. Everyone’s just one big happy room of people singing along and it’s really cool.

YT: Your music videos often have a space or fantasy feel to them. How do you conceptualize what you want the music video to look like in the end?

Lights: It usually just organically flows. I mean, with everything audio I invent, there’s always a visual component. I just need to close my eyes and imagine it. It all started with the Drive My Soul video, where I closed my eyes and all I could picture was me designing a rocket to get to this purple planet where there was an astronaut waiting, and it just seemed so fitting. I love the campy aspect where it looks all homemade, like the old Star Trek sets you know, basically just impressing all of my hobbies and the things that I do for entertainment aside from music onto my music videos and it’s really just basically a chance for me to have fun and live in this crazy alternate universe.

YT: What was your inspiration for “The Listening’s” album cover?

Lights: It’s based on sort of simplicity and the Watchmen graphic novel, a really great graphic novel in the ’80s and, you know, a huge movie was made of it. I mean, it’s a comic but it has a level of depth to it that means it’s not just for kids. And it’s also kind of based on Sailor Moon, but my interest for comics came a long time ago in my life, mainly because it was just a precursor to video games where you can lose yourself in another world where there’s no boundaries for creativity and that’s what draws me.

YT: Who is your favourite comic book hero and why?

Lights: Wonder Woman (laughs). Wonder Woman’s been a long time hero of mine and I collect her comics and paraphernalia and I have pictures of her all over my wall and I actually have a huge tattoo of her on my back. I think she kicks a** and she’s a total babe and she stands for all honourable things, and justice, and purity, and these are all things I strive to stand for too, so it’s just cool that a wonderful woman can kick such a**.

YT: What’s the next big thing your fans can look forward to from you?

Lights: I’m going to continue touring a lot. I’m already going to start working on a new song for another record. Plus the Audio Quest: A Captain LIGHTS Adventure comics have already started airing on MTV in America, and they’ll be on my website too at iamlights.com. And it’s basically, if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s really cool. I’ve been working with a group from Marvel Digital Comics and we’ve put together a comic character based on me! She looks just like me and I did all the voiceover for it and she kinda just scavenges the universe for crazy sounds. My music’s all in the background… so it’s kind of like a score instead of a song kind of and she fights people along the way and it’s really cool.

YT: Lastly, where would you like to see your career five years from now?

Lights: Well, actually, in five years from now, my goodness, I can’t even imagine what opportunities are going to come up. I mean just in the past year, things have happened that I could never have imagined to happen in a way that I would never have dreamed this to happen. So, I mean, I can’t even picture it but I know it’s going to be awesome!