photos by Jeremy Chan
It's been a busy six months for electronic singer and producer Lights. Her newest album, Siberia, dropped in October and she's since been touring all over North America promoting it.
The new album features heavier bass drops and grittier beats than some past fans had been used to, but with the change in sound comes a new wave of Lights fans, and Siberia has been generally well-received among electronic listeners.
Lights hails from Canada, but her tour will bring her to The Waiting Room this Friday, April 27. It won't be her first time in Omaha, but the singer says she's excited to return.
“We haven’t been back to Nebraska in about two years. I remember the first time we played there, it was in 2008 with Copeland at the Slowdown. It was such an awesome venue; I’m excited to play in Omaha again."
Check out Lights' video for "Toes," as heard on Siberia:
Although Lights has collaborated with many artists, including acts like Holy Fuck and Shad on her newest album, she hasn't been pressured to work with anybody she didn't think was right for a track.
“It develops in a very natural way," she says. "It’s really hard to get collaboration work that’s predetermined and forced, trying to organize something that isn’t natural. I remember when we were working on "Everybody Breaks a Glass."
"I thought Shad would be perfect on it. We have a lot of the same friends, so I got in contact via email. He recorded his part remotely and just killed it. It’s never something that’s been ‘hooked up,’ it’s much more organic.”
As dubstep has claimed its part of the electronic and dance music scenes, Lights has incorporated some of the young genre's elements into her own sound.
“I remember being at a club in Montreal a few years ago, and they had a dubstep night. It was something a lot of people had never heard in electronic music, with this aggressiveness and heavy beats that were completely new.
"The gritty half-time beats and drops made me want to try the more aggressive sound with the contrast of the softer melodies and synthetic instruments I’d been using. So there are some elements in Siberia similar to what dubstep has brought to electronic music without actually being dubstep.”
Lights has drawn inspiration from the genre, but don't chalk her up with the gaggle of dime-a-dozen dubstep performers whose songs are hard to differentiate. The young artist has stayed motivated by creating music she is passionate about and can share with her fans, not by seeing how many MDMA-fueled twenty-something club-goers she can get to click "buy" on iTunes.
“It’s important that you make music you love and you’re proud of and you want to play every night," she says. "People will come and go and if fans really appreciate your work that comes from your heart they will definitely stick with you.
"It’s just the way music evolves; and you should be nervous, it means you’re challenging yourself. Nothing’s a sure-fire. But seeing tons of people coming out to shows helps you know you've made the right choice with the risks you’ve taken.”
Bryce Wergin is a contributor for Hear Nebraska. He'd like a little more cowbell on the track. Reach him at brycewergin@hearnebraska.org.