UTG TRACK-BY-TRACK: Lights Resolve – Feel You’re Different

To celebrate the release of their new album Feel You’re Different, Lights Resolve have partnered with UTG to give fans a track-by-track rundown.

For those unaware, Lights Resolve are one of the greatest unsigned acts in North America. Their roots lie in the New York music scene, but the evolution they’ve undergone with each release has made them an entity without label or genre. Part rock, part pop, a lot of experimentation, and more honesty than anything carried in Hot Topic, Lights Resolve are simply an act to be experienced.

Click through to dig deeper into Feel You’re Different, then click here to buy a copy for yourself. 

Happens Every Day

Started as a riff and a single melody that seemed like instant magic.  Reminded me of Oasis meeting Jane’s Addiction and Rage Against The Machine.  The chorus has the first rap influence melodically for the band, with it’s rigid, stiff delivery.  Lyrically it’s a parallel between my girlfriend at the time not being accepted by people I love and the music industry at large not approving of my music.  It’s a kind of, “Fuck you, I’m gonna stick it out and ride this to the ground or to the top.”

2. With the Pieces

Original inspiration came from being in a cabin in upstate NY listening to Garbage.  Our publishing A&R guy had signed Garbage back in the day and he had also let us use his upstate house to live in and write some music.  I remember starting this up as Duke was helping Neal with his speech for his sister’s wedding in the next room.  When the band joined in we knew we had a banger.  Lyrically, it’s one of my favorite songs about denial and delay, putting off the inevitable.  When you try to push aside what’s blatantly staring you in the face, it consumes you and eventually controls your life.   When someone is unable to come to terms with their demons, they remain un-whole as long as they avoid confronting the pieces of their past.

3. Get Away With It

I first wrote this one by myself on acoustic and we all loved the melody and scene changes.  When we got into the studio we had to take 3 stabs at figuring out which direction the song should’ve gone.  The first try gave the tune no identity and it just existed as a pop song on the record that didn’t fit.  The second experiment involved molding Beck and The Beatles’ style together and that didn’t work too well either. Finally we figured out the right balance of laid-back and drive while still keeping the beautiful scene changes and dynamic the song embodies.  We had to make it right before we let it go…the song is a question to a higher being.

4. My Gemini

I’m a Gemini…and around the time of writing this song I realized just how my astrological sign was fitting into my life; I embodied the typical Gemini traits.  I realized that sometimes I live up to or exceed my potential as the best person I am capable of being and at other times my demons get the best of me; the two faces I wear scare the shit out of me.  Musically it was a mash up of one part I had written and one part Duke had written.  I remember spending hours and possibly days by myself trying to get the two parts to match up.  Finally I figured out how to make it work and I’m really happy with how the soft subtle Pink Floyd-influenced sections get totally annihilated on the chorus as the song jumps through the speakers.

5. Misfire

Possibly the heaviest song on the record was born out of a riff I had for a while but didn’t know exactly what to do with.  This was my first experiment in letting rage out with a scream.  I credit Sapone and Duke with helping me transition from a studio ‘singer’ to a studio ‘performer.’ The attitude and balls captured exactly the direction that Neal had wanted to take the band in since his days as an 80’s cock rock fanatic.  We also sprinkled some 90’s-influenced rock.  It strikes me as a frantic, yet classy type of sound; a quick banger.

6. Sew It Up

The last song written for the album started as a jam between Neal and I.  We had already written the songs that we planned on recording, but we found inspiration one day in our rehearsal space.  This song allowed us to step out of our shells and be experimental with mood, music and lyrics.  Sapone was responsible for making this song magic in the sonic manipulation and engineering/producing/mixing of it.  The Smashing Pumpkins were constantly on rotation at that point and I definitely borrowed some inspiration from other similar 90’s bands.  Lyrically I decided to put myself in the Nikes of a member of the Heaven’s Gate cult that gained notoriety in the late 90’s.  I felt like I had to write something about it after stumbling upon some of their ‘exit videos’ created by infamous leader Marshall Applewhite…chilling to the bone.

7. Rhapsodize

The genesis of this song came from a band jam session that took place very shortly after Duke joined the band.  We were still feeling out the role that each instrument would play at that point, as well as generally acclimating Duke to the band.  Fast forward to recording with Sapone, I think he captured the quiet and subdued verses as well as the zipping energy of the chorus.  I aimed for a Black Sabbath in the bridge and a Neil Young/David Bowie melodic influence in the choruses.

8. Hurt A Little

Possibly the most direct inspiration for a song came from the cabin in upstate NY.  It’s located in a desolate little town covered by woods with no cell phone reception and one block of shops that close at 3pm.  The only thing to do at night was either play music or watch movies.  Our publishing A&R had a whole wall lined with DVD’s of every film imaginable.  One night in the dark, creepy house covered by woods, Duke suggested we screen the David Lynch flick Eraserhead at 3am.  Needless to say, the next morning I woke at 8am and immediately began replaying the ‘lady in the radiator’ scene in my head a million times.  I tried to emulate the mood on a keyboard with a creepy organ sound and started singing melodies over it.  I changed “everything is fine” to “I won’t be fine” and after Neal and Duke got up and heard the music, they came in and joined almost right away with this classic Clash-like groove sitting underneath the eerie chords.  When we got into the studio and decided to record the whole record with only guitar, bass and drums I transferred the organ over to guitar and our song was born.  One of my favorite parts of the record is the music for the end of the track, which I totally improvised using an E-bow.  With Brian May layered guitar inspiration, the music eventually sounded like an orchestra gone mad.

9. Stick ’em Up

I remember very clearly working on this song in Florida with the keyboard and a quiet vocal…boy did this song take a different shape.  The character of the verse and the key changes from verse to chorus were completely indicative of mid-era U2.  The frustration in the song comes from seeing the apathy of most kids and musicians out there these days.  From my perspective of the people surrounding me, nobody seemed to care about anything.  I tried some lyrical irony in the chorus demanding all of the ‘zombies’ “stick ’em up.”  We felt very separate from any particular scene; we were alone in our music and our principles.  However, we decided to embrace our unique position and pave our own path for better or worse.  This may be the heaviest pop song we’ve written.

10. HIPS

I had been working and reworking the riff in this song for years and couldn’t find anything to work with these jazzy chords.  We finally caught a rhythm and ran with it on this song.  In the studio I completely had my lungs out of my throat on the microphone.  Some vocals couldn’t be emulated from the demo so we used the original first-take demo parts in the final version that you hear. The anger comes from thoughts weighing very heavily in my mind that wouldn’t allow me to sleep properly.  Insomnia is a recurring theme for Duke and I while Neal tucks himself in before midnight.  Fifty bucks to anyone who can break down the acronym in the title.

11. Another Five Days

This song was written when we first formed Lights Resolve.  We decided that it was essential to this record because it always closes our live set.  We felt compelled to reinterpret it in a new way for our first large body of work.  The sexual build-up and release in the bridge is usually a peak to the live show and a fan favorite each time we perform.  Originally “Another Five Days” started out as an exercise for me to write a complete song using only the same 2 or 3 note sequence for the whole tune.  The minimalist approach in this song carried through to the rest of our music and possibly shaped the whole future for our band.

James Shotwell
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