PHOTO : MATT BARNES
herself . As we speak in early November 2017 , she ’ s on the verge of putting the finishing touches on the last of the books ’ 175 pages , the culmination of several years of work . The relief in her voice is palpable .
“ Today , I ’ ve been working on the last issue . I literally have four pages left ,” she marvels . “ I ’ m so close to being done , it ’ s kind of surreal .”
If turning synth-pop stardom into comic book heroism seems counterintuitive , Lights has been dropping hints that this was coming for years .
First , there ’ s that name . Like Diana Prince ( Wonder Woman ), Natasha Romanoff ( Black Widow ), or Selena Kyle ( Catwoman ), Lights realized early on the power of an alter-ego , an identity one can step into that ’ s more mysterious , more enigmatic , more heroic than reality .
Then there ’ s the sci-fi imagery she ’ s been using since her outer-space themed first music video for 2008 ’ s “ Drive My Soul .”
On her releases since , Lights has reined in some of that grandiosity . The songwriting was there and a sense of adventurous fun was never far from her music , but there was a sense she was holding something back , keeping her dorkier , more ambitious , more visual side from fully peeking through the façade .
On Skin & Earth , that sheen of normalcy is gone . Lights is finally ready to drop the subtlety and fully let her geek flag fly .
It started with a redheaded Riverdalien and a boy with an imaginary tiger friend .
“ It ’ s been a lifelong journey that ’ s evolved ,” Lights says of her infatuation with the comic art form . “ I started out reading Archie comics and Herman , Far Side , Calvin & Hobbes . I had stacks and stacks of those . I enjoyed the simplicity of how much you could tell with a few images and just a few lines .”
From there , her tastes got more complex . In her current collection , there are the mainstream , household name superheroes ( in 2017 , who doesn ’ t love Wonder Woman ?) but there are also titles from the unusual suspects . She cites the Marjorie Liu-penned fantasy series Monstress as a prime example of the kind of femalecreated graphic novel that paved the way for Skin & Earth .
“ Unbelievable storyline . I think there ’ s a certain element to it that a woman would bring to it that a woman would identify with . Personally , I identify more with female characters , characters that are real and not necessarily superheroes . That ’ s the way comics are going as well .”
Every pop star needs an escape . Lights could have left comics as a hobby , a dorky interest reserved for the small slice of private life we leave for the famous . Doing otherwise would have been silly ; after all , outside of niche acts like prog-punk nerds Coheed & Cambria , who would dare take on something like a crossover concept record / graphic novel ? And yet , for a decade , the idea was there . “ I ’ m a fan of both mediums so much .
I think there ’ s a lot of crossover in both fan bases but I think it hasn ’ t crossed over enough ,” she explains . “ It was always a dream of mine to see a female artist make a concept comic tie in with the record .”
When it came time to create her own book , Lights drew from what she knew . While not a biography , there are elements of her own life spread throughout the series . It ’ s not a coincidence that in recent photos and the videos for singles “ Giants ” and “ Savage ,” Lights has sported the same bright crimson hair as Enaia , the comic ’ s main character .
“ I didn ’ t really want a superhero comic , I wanted something more relatable ,” she says . “ My character ended up being a reflection of myself . Just totally a goofy , self-deprecating , lonely young woman who somehow , in a dismal world , still has this desire to look for help when everyone else has given up on it . It comes in an interesting way for her .”
Through the journey , serious themes pop up ; the story largely acts as a metaphor for struggling with depression .
“ These are things I ’ ve experienced and I wanted to tell that story because I think it ’ s an important story to tell . If you have depression , it doesn ’ t mean you ’ re weak or illegitimate ; it just means you know how to see the world from both sides . You learn how to confront it and live with it and , eventually , overcome it .”
For all the ambitious concepts at play , eventually the story had to coalesce into an actual record . To that end , Lights describes a “ symbiotic process ” in which gaps in the comic ’ s plot inspired song ideas that , in turn , helped her work on the comic ’ s storyline .
Busy with work on the comic and with translating that over to lyrics , she found herself giving up some control , letting producers work on the music while she focused on translating her sprawling tale . While she would add some guitar flourishes here and there , the musical side of things was largely out of her hands for first time in her career .
“ I ’ ve always wanted control of songwriting sessions and knowing exactly what I wanted it to sound like , so everything ended up sounding kind of the same ,” she says .
CANADIAN MUSICIAN • 35