The Pitch: How long have you been making music as Soft Lighting?
Cox: Some of the songs on the album were written a year or two ago, but at that time I wasn't really thinking of it as a serious project. I didn't decide that I wanted to release the songs until about a few months ago, so I didn't come up with the name Soft Lighting until very recently. All that being said, I have been making similar-sounding solo music under various names for about a decade. That was a kinda tricky question, ha ha.
This is the first and only Soft Lighting release to date. It's also the only thing I have ever had released on a real record label. I've made tons of homemade albums over the years and usually just gave them away for free to friends and family, etc.
Your music falls right in line with artists like Washed Out and M83. Their music draws a lot from '80s movie soundtracks. Where does your tone come from?
I'm influenced by pretty much everything '80s; Italo disco, alt bands like the Cure and Depeche Mode, '80s coming-of-age films, commercials, etc. I also definitely like some contemporary acts like TEEEL, Work Drugs and John Maus. Does it have a cheesy synthesizer? I probably like it.
Are the vocals your own, or do you work with other folks to create songs?
Those are my vocals. I wish when I talked in normal life I had that much reverb and delay on my voice, haha, that would really confuse people, especially over the phone.
Will there be any live performances to support the album?
Nothing planned at this point. I play guitar in a band, New Savages, that is more of the live thing and satisfies that for me, but who knows. If there's enough of a demand for it, I will probably figure out a way to rock it out live.
Have any of these songs been performed in front of an audience, or is this strictly a studio project?
It's a studio project at this point. I think it would be really funny to bring back lip syncing, though, so maybe I'll have to do that, ha ha!
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