RedLight
RedLight discuss their latest single “Ten Circles,” over two decades of friendship, spontaneous creativity, raw indie rock energy, and the DIY spirit driving their musical journey forward.
1. RedLight returns with “Ten Circles” following last year’s Homeworks LP. What inspired you to return with this new single, and how does it reflect where you are today as musicians?
For us, it’s really about the pleasure of making music together. RedLight started in Marseille more than twenty years ago, among childhood friends, and the band has evolved through different line-ups over the years. What has always remained is the passion for music and the desire to create songs together.
After Homeworks, we felt like getting back into the rehearsal room and building something new from the ground up. “Ten Circles” reflects where we are today: we know each other musically, we trust the way we play together, and we want to keep things spontaneous, direct and honest. We’re not trying to follow a particular trend or reinvent ourselves with every release. We just want to make music that feels right to us.
2. “Ten Circles” puts guitars, playing nuances, and raw rock energy at the forefront. What was your approach to shaping the song’s sound while keeping its rough edges intact?
The song was written by the three of us, playing together in the rehearsal room. We started by looking for grooves, trying things out and seeing how different ideas worked when we played them together. The aim was to capture that collective energy and make the song feel as organic and direct as possible, with the sound and dynamics of three musicians playing together.
We then continued working on the arrangements in our home studio, but we wanted to preserve the feel of the original performance. For us, the small details, the playing nuances and even the imperfections are part of what makes a track alive. We’re not looking for a perfectly polished sound at the expense of the music itself. We want to keep the raw energy while making sure every element serves the song.
3. The press release describes the story behind the release through three words: music, life, and time. How do these themes connect with the ideas or emotions you wanted to express in “Ten Circles”?
Those three words make a lot of sense to us, especially after more than twenty years of being a band. Music has always been a constant in our lives, even as everything around us has changed. We’ve been through different line-ups, different periods and different experiences, but we’re still here, making music together.
Time changes the way you see things, both as a person and as a musician. You gain experience, but you also learn what really matters to you. For us, it comes back to the simple things: playing together, creating something that didn’t exist before and sharing that moment with other people. “Ten Circles” is part of that ongoing journey.
4. Creation is cited as the main inspiration for this release. Where do your musical ideas usually begin, and how does a first idea develop into a finished RedLight song?
Most of the time, I start by putting together a demo with the basic foundations of a song: the structure, lyrics and melodies. Then I pass it on to Dapper, our guitarist. If he decides to work on it, he takes it almost back to square one, reshaping the structure, developing the arrangements and giving the song a more definitive form.
However, recently we’ve spent a lot of time jamming together as a three-piece, with bass, drums and guitar, working on grooves and trying to come up with ideas as much as possible through live playing. We recorded a lot of these sessions and started working on some of the tracks that emerged from them.
“Ten Circles” is the first song to come out of this process. It’s a slightly different approach for us, putting the interaction between the three of us at the centre of the creative process from the very beginning. We then took the ideas into our home studio to develop the arrangements further, keeping the whole process as organic and DIY as possible.
5. Indie rock offers plenty of room for experimentation, yet “Ten Circles” seems to prioritize the playing itself. How important are instrumental details, spontaneity, and the chemistry between musicians in your creative process?
For us, the idea is to come up with something that stands on its own with just bass, drums, one or maybe two guitars, and vocals. We try to keep things organic and direct. If a song works with just a guitar, bass, drums and vocals, that’s usually a good sign. It means the song has a solid foundation and doesn’t need a lot of extra arrangements. We want to keep things simple enough to give ourselves more freedom on stage and make the songs easy and enjoyable to play live.
When we start jamming together, if something clicks within the first five minutes, we usually take it as a good sign. The details can be worked on later, but the spirit and atmosphere of a song often emerge in those first few minutes. It’s a very instinctive process, not something we overthink.
We usually start with no particular idea in mind. We just play, let our minds wander and follow whatever inspiration comes along in the moment. It doesn’t always lead anywhere, of course, but every now and then, something interesting comes out of it. And when it does, we try to hold on to that initial energy rather than overwork it. For us, that spontaneous connection between the three of us is a big part of what makes a RedLight song feel right.
6. After releasing Homeworks and now returning with “Ten Circles,” what direction do you see RedLight taking next? Are you already working on new material, or are you letting this single lead the way?
We’re always thinking about new music. That’s probably what keeps a band going after more than twenty years: the desire to create something new and see where it takes you.
We don’t necessarily plan everything too far ahead. We prefer to keep playing, exploring ideas and letting things develop naturally. “Ten Circles” is another step in that process, rather than a statement about a completely new direction.
We’ll continue working in our own way, writing together, recording in our home studio and keeping that DIY spirit alive. As long as we enjoy making music together and feel there are still songs to write, we’ll keep going. That’s what RedLight has always been about.