We caught up with Lights ahead of the UK release of her new single ‘Up We Go’.
Click through for our interactive interview or view the Q&A below!
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Firstly, can you tell us more about your new single ‘Up We Go’?
When I first wrote this song I basically just had the chorus and everything else kind of sucked. I was having a really tough year emotionally and creatively and was trying to tell myself in the lyrics that it could only get better from there, but I didn’t really believe it at the time. I sat on the track for a few months trying to get it right. Later I ended up on another writing trip and I had all my recording gear set up beside the bath with a big jug of wine working on a new track and I found myself returning to that song and suddenly the verse that you hear now came to me and I stood up in the bath with my wine in hand and the whole melody and lyric came out in a solo drunken eureka moment. Next day we finished the song and everyone on our team said, “this is the first single”. That is how singles get made I guess.
How does it feel to have a UK release date for the single?
If it means I get to come back and play more without going broke, I’m stoked. I love it out there, the fans are the greatest and the shows are fun.
How would you describe the transition in your music from your first release until now?
I guess it all grew up a little, both the sonics and the lyrics. I still use the classic format of pop song writing but all the energy that goes into is a little more experienced. My first record I was really naive and there was an interesting creative element about that but I honed my lyrics, learned how to zero in on a topic a little more in a more vague way, which is actually really challenging. More natural instrumentation plays in with the electronics as opposed to purely soft-synth and computer sounds.
Have you found inspiration in new ways as your music has evolved?
Little Machines was inspired heavily by poetry and painting. I actually wasn’t listening to a vast variety of music at the time, just some instrumental electronic stuff and doing poetry every night, and working on art. It helped me rediscover my naivety about music I guess.
Do you have any plans to tour the UK in the near future?
Yeah, we’ll definitely be back in 2016. No solid plans yet but you can’t escape us.
Are there any venues/cities in particular you’d love to play in the UK?
Hm, let’s see. Wembley? Someday right? Otherwise, one of my favourite cities to play is always London. The shows have a good vibe. Last tour we played on a boat in Bristol and that was really tight.
What are your aims by the end of 2015?
To finish reading the Death Note manga series, catch up on American Horror Story, write a new record, complete the comic I’m working on, tour the US and then take a week off somewhere hot.
Anything else you wish to add?
If you like Little Machines you’ll like the little spin-off EP I have coming soon, we just got out of the studio and the stuff is pretty gorgeous. There may or may not be couple songs no one has ever heard as well.