''Lights'' is the self-titled debut EP by Canadian recording artist

Lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Lighting * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian s ...

, released on

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on July 24, 2008. It was released as a 12-inch vinyl on September 16, 2008.

Background

Cover art

The cover art is a picture of Lights that she took in her apartment in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

heavily edited in a "cheap program" she owned for her computer at the time. She color-blocked and re-outlined the image rendering it to what it is. The cover led some to believe that the vinyl was a

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

, which prompted some mistakable purchases.

Songs in media

Beginning in February 2008, her song "

February Air "February Air" is the second single by Canadian singer-songwriter Lights from her debut self-titled EP. It was released on December 9, 2008 in Canada. The song reached #90 on the Canadian Hot 100 Billboard magazine chart. An acoustic version of th ...

" was featured in a series of

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television ads. The music video for the song premiered in December. Another track, "

Drive My Soul "Drive My Soul" is the debut single by Canadian singer-songwriter Lights from her debut self-titled EP. It was released as the EP's lead single on March 11, 2008, in Canada and July 24, 2008, in the United States. The song reached number 18 on th ...

", appeared during a 2008 episode of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's '' The Hills''.

Release and reception

The EP was released on July 24, 2008. It was made available in Canada through

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

, and iTunes, and in the United States on iTunes. Later in the year, coinciding with Lights' touring, the EP was made available on CD in the US on September 16, 2008. Three songs from ''Lights'' were released as singles: "Drive My Soul", "February Air", and "

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

". These songs, along with " The Last Thing on Your Mind", were later reworked and included on Lights' debut album, '' The Listening'' (2009). ''Lights'' peaked at number 27 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Top Heatseekers The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

albums chart. Matthew Chisling of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

remarked that the EP "found a large amount of commercial success" and "critical praise"—including Lights' 2009

Juno Award for New Artist of the Year The Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year is an annual award given by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to the best new musician in Canada. The award has been given since 1974, when it was originally divided into separat ...

—which led Warner Bros. to allow Lights to release ''The Listening'' almost a year later.

Track listing

References

{{Lights 2008 debut EPs Lights (musician) albums Synth-pop EPs