Electro-rocker Lights was flying high when she found inspiration for the title track of her 2011 disc, “Siberia.”
“That was one of the first songs written with [electronic band] Holy F*** after we jammed,” she recalled. “This really cool kind of pulsating, distorted sound came out, and I took it home and started writing to it. I tried to come up with lyrics and nothing would work, and I knew the track was something special.
“And I was actually flying into Denver, when I was landing I was trying to work on lyrics, and it was all just snow. And it reminded me of the way Siberia looked, and I remembered the man who’s my husband now said we could be happy no matter where we are; we could be in Siberia.
“And I thought, man, that means so much because that is truly what the best part of life is: How you can be anywhere but as long as you’re with the right people, you’re in the right place.”
The Canadian singer-songwriter found herself ready to change things up on this disc.
“I was ready to evolve,” she said during a call before a show in Calgary, Alberta. “When you have one record out and you’ve had your entire life to make that, it’s a very challenging thing to find your way to the next record.”
So Lights collaborated with HolyF*** and rapper Shad.
“The first record (2009’s ‘The Listening’) was kind of like me getting stuff off my chest and talking about things I was going through, and the second record is a bit more of a visual escape and a bit more carefree in terms of the content,” she said.
Consider the catchy single, “Toes.”
“I always like to make sure the lyrics have meaning because music is such a powerful thing, and why not move people if you can? So I thought: What’s the most exciting situation you can be in with your job or with a person? It’s anticipation, it’s looking forward to something. And that’s when you know there’s something special in your life, when it keeps you excited.”
She captured attention north of the border with a 2008 self-titled EP that featured “Drive My Soul.” In 2009, she won the JUNO Award for New Artist of the Year.
“I had this little EP out, we were touring around in this old, junky van, playing to 30 people, and I got a text saying that you were nominated for a JUNO, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s super unexpected.’ And then to win on top of that was amazing,” she said. “It’s nice to know your country’s got your back.”
Lights will play at Frankie’s Inner City Nov. 13, 2912. Arkells will open. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 the night of the concert. Doors open at 7 p.m.
“I like to write something that cantake people away for a little bit and they don’t leave heavier than when they came in,” Lights said. “I want it to be a bit freeing, a cheap vacation.
“The reason we like so much art is because it takes us out of real life for a minute, and that’s exactly what I try to do.”
