Lights

Fusing '70s AM radio hooks with acid rock expanses, Lights featured vocalist/guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:3p0C8VjKn6BHxKNZfh21I6">Sophia Knapp</a>, drummer/vocalist Linnea Vedder, and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:2CLKyqkduEWMOZ6mBwzfw4">Alana Amram</a>. The project began in 2004, when <a href="spotify:artist:3p0C8VjKn6BHxKNZfh21I6">Knapp</a> met Vedder in an art supply store and the two began writing songs together and performing at parties. They teamed up with first bassist Andy MacLeod (formerly of <a href="spotify:artist:2ayLcJ3HBefNHlPrFQnp8t">White Magic</a>) and, with <a href="spotify:artist:5oskjjKT8YsWJV0o8NEV9R">Espers</a>' <a href="spotify:artist:2KDwrt6KBbySkGi5DBBXzp">Greg Weeks</a>, recorded their self-titled debut, which <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Language+of+Stone%22">Language of Stone</a> released in 2008. Soon after, the band signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Drag+City%22">Drag City</a> and issued its follow-up, Rites, in 2009. Late the following year, however, the group changed its moniker to <a href="spotify:artist:0HReu8wu2fDDSi1DcfQiIv">Cliffie Swan</a> to avoid confusion with the Canadian pop artist known as Lights. The band's last output as Lights was a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>'s "As the World Falls Down" for the charity album We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie. <a href="spotify:artist:3p0C8VjKn6BHxKNZfh21I6">Knapp</a>, Vedder, and <a href="spotify:artist:2CLKyqkduEWMOZ6mBwzfw4">Amram</a> worked with <a href="spotify:artist:311FVkWZ3yM5FeeXJndEQg">Erika Spring</a> and Hannah Rawe for their first album as <a href="spotify:artist:0HReu8wu2fDDSi1DcfQiIv">Cliffie Swan</a>, 2011's Memories Come True. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi