Music Spotlight: Lights

Lights is the musical equivalent of sitting by a campfire and making s'mores. Her music warms you with its idyllic lyrics and her sound is deliciously sweet, melting you with its simple honesty. She rocks a keytar and enjoys using words like stellar and tubular. When she talks she speaks with a kindness in her voice that exudes a mix of bubbly youth and sage.

It's apparent that she's tapped into the kind of originality that most artists long for. From her style (signature headbands and the occasional fanny pack) to the true-to-herself vibe that she’s created while garnering some national attention. You may have heard her songs in the latest batch of Old Navy commercials. "The Last Thing On Your Mind" is perhaps the most stunning because the melody lingers with you long after the commercial ends.

Although Lights is not her given name she said "it's like a one word description of everything I want to say to the world."

Growing up as the daughter of missionaries she's lived in places like the Philippines and Jamaica. And for her, inspiration comes in all types of forms.

"I'm inspired more by the things I see...driving through a city or walking through a city with no music or anything. You have to walk and not hear anything to like hear it the most."

She says Phil Collins "is like a superhero of mine" and other than Collins she would enjoy collaborating with Kanye West because she thinks the blending of genres could produce something cool.

Lights doesn't court hype and doesn't want to become jaded by seeing herself on TV. In fact, she doesn't even own a TV and that probably works in advantage for her fans who eagerly await her next project.

When it comes to touring she would love to play in Paris, which only seems fitting for Lights to want to play in the "City of Lights." The Canadian singer also looks forward to playing in Los Angeles and touring in the States.

But Lights isn't all about music. She knows the value of taking the time to express her creativity in other ways.

"You can't put it all out in music because you get spent. You have to release it somewhere else so I do a lot of painting. I paint like pop art. Sort of like comic book style...and I also draw comics and someday I'll put out a graphic novel or something."

You can listen to Lights music at www.myspace.com/lightsnoise and see why she's one of the best acts to emerge out of the indie music scene this year.



[photo credit Daniel Bray]