Pretty Lights - Biography
Derek Vincent Smith is an American electronic music artist who performs under the moniker Pretty Lights. He is also the founder of the music label, Pretty Lights Music.
As a young adult, Smith was exposed to rock music and instantly knew he wanted to take part in the action. With money saved from a paper route job, Smith purchased a bass guitar and joined a local band. While attending high school in Fort Collins, Colorado, Smith was introduced to hip hop music and began experimenting with production by making beats from sampled music. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, but dropped out during his freshman year to pursue a career in music.
Before Radiohead helped to popularize offering albums online for free, Smith was already doing so. In 2006, Smith offered the Pretty Lights debut, Taking up Your Precious Time, for free via his label's website, PrettyLightsMusic.com. The album generated a huge buzz, quickly garnering 5,000 downloads. In 2008, Pretty Lights released his sophomore album, Filling Up The City Skies, for free online. The new album was a double disc release featuring 25 tracks produced by Smith. Staying true to the distribution model, Pretty Lights released his third album, Passing By Behind Your Eyes (2009), and three subsequent EPs in 2010 for free online.
2013 saw the release of Smith's fourth full-length production, a double disc album entitled A Color Map Of The Sun. It marked the first time Smith offered a physical product for sale in conjunction with the digital release. A self-professed “sample collage” artist, Smith decided to challenge himself to create his own samples for the new album. He spent a year recording live musicians in various studios in Brooklyn, New Orleans and Denver, using instruments and gear faithful to the time period of the music they were creating. He then took those recorded reel-to-reel sessions and pressed the audio to over 50 vinyl LPs, in turn using the vinyl sources to sample, reconstruct, chop, and form the 13 tracks on the album. A Color Map Of The Sun is Smith's first production created entirely from his own original music. A Color Map Of The Sun also includes a companion volume of all-original breaks recorded during those live sessions called Live Studio Sessions.
In addition to his recorded work, Pretty Lights has also focused on developing a unique live show using state-of-the-art lighting, production design, and video technology. He has performed at festivals all over the US, including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Electric Daisy Carnival, and has had co-headlining shows with Skrillex and Bassnectar. He is currently on a headlining tour with a full band across the US this fall.