Returning with his euphoric fifth studio album, Bright Light Bright Light – aka Rod Thomas – takes a deep dive into the star-studded set!
1. You Want My …
My favourite instrumental that Ian Masterson has sent for me to write to. This sounded like Pet Shop Boys meets ‘Queer As Folk’ to me, so I wanted to write something flirty, sexy and fun. In the instrumental there was a little hi-hat sound in the chorus that sounded like the word ‘sex’, so I took that word and moulded the rest of the lyrics to fall on that on each line.
The title is a nod to George Michael’s I Want Your Sex and the way I say the word “sex” is also a reference to Goldie Hawn saying “sex” while seducing Bruce Willis in ‘Death Becomes Her’. CAMP!
2. Snap!
Another Ian Masterson instrumental that sent me into space. It made me feel like I was in a 90s video game, going 1000 miles an hour and feeling fabulous. I wrote the lyrics about feeling that massive adrenaline rush of like: “Oh my God is this it! Is this the win!”. To have even more fun I asked Berri, one of my favourite ‘90s pop stars, to add vocals to the song and it was so much fun. I am SO proud of this song.
3. Revived
Jon Shave is an amazing songwriter and producer I’ve worked with since before my debut album (we wrote MANY of my songs together). He sent me a batch of one-minute ideas to write to and I took the punch of Jon’s beats and the strut in the production and made a song about self-belief and self-worth.
Jon had worked with Sam Harper on the Riton hit Friday and I LOVE her voice, so he asked her to add some dance diva vocals to the song and she elevated it from good to sublime in my mind.
4. Every Emotion
Teenage me 100 per cent cannot process the fact that I have Ultra Naté on a song that I have written. I love this woman SO much.
I wrote this song one day after a few mimosas. I’d been listening to lots of classic NY house tracks after moving into Manhattan and found this Rhodes sample that reminded me of Masters At Work / NuYorican soul.
When I found out that working with Ultra was a possibility, I added in the “lalala”parts as an homage to her “na na na na!” in Found A Cure – one of my FAVOURITE songs of hers.
5. Boys Etc.
Silly, flirty, sassy, fun. Initially this started as a slinky little electro number based on samples from ‘Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past’ and it sounded TOTALLY different. I sat on it for years, and then one day when playing the saxophone I thought of a little brass line that sounded familiar, and it was a melody from this demo. So I completely reworked the instrumentation and suddenly it felt like a real song.
6. Heartslap
If you don’t know who Mykal Kilgore is, look him up. We’ve known each other for like 12 or 13 years and we were in a band together, fronted by Del Marquis of Scissor Sisters, called Slow Knights! I had written 90 per cent of Heartslap on a train to DC when Jon sent me a (VERY DIFFERENT!) instrumental that had a very dark pulsating beat. We switched up the production and arrived at this wild dance number that I LOVE. Mykal came over one day to help finish writing it and lay down the vocals and he decided we needed a rap section and that was that!
7. Sweet Release
When Jon sent me the instrumental snippet that I wrote this song around, I just fell in love with the mood he created. The synths were so dreamy and so calm, but also very transcendent… I don’t even remember writing the lyrics – they just kind of fell out. I love where this song ended up; I love the mood, I love the optimism.
8. I Don’t Know What I’m Gonna Do
I actually had this written some time before thinking of a new album. The chorus lyrics nod to one of my favourite ‘80s songs, Clouds Across The Moon by Rah Band, and this is the one moment on the album of loss and heartbreak that gives into a little defeat. I know that sad dance songs are kind of my thing, so I guess it makes sense!
9. Down To One
I love old Italian horror films which feature strong, devious female characters, extreme fashion, jealousy, betrayal and camp. I’d just done my score for a documentary on International Male (an iconic fashion catalogue and brand) and used some of the sounds I’d made for that score to colour this dance song about rivalry, obsession and lust.
10. Sweetest Waste
I wrote this song a LONG time ago. I went into the studio with Babydaddy from Scissor Sisters and we came up with it pretty quickly. Production-wise, it’s totally unlike anything I would do myself and has such a cool strut to it. I sat on it for years as I really wanted it to be a duet, but eventually Scott (Babydaddy) and I talked about it and he was like: ‘Actually, I love it being just your voice”.
11. Keep
Speaking of all time pop heroes, I wrote this with Richard X! He’s actually the person who inspired me to make mashups with his incredible ‘Richard X Presents’ album. I went to his studio in London years ago and we wrote this together on a couch that Sugababes and a number of UK pop stars had sat on.
I love Richard’s production. He has such a weird, unique take on pop. It was actually very intimidating to write in a room with him as I’m such a fan and am very aware of his pop legacy. This song is nothing like the rest of the album, but has a super special place for me as a song written with a good friend and a fantastic producer.
12. Enjoy Youth
Jon sent a 1 min 15 demo that sounded like being inside a Super Nintendo game and a film score at the same time, so I asked for the separate instrument files and played around creating the flow of this song. It made me feel so NOSTALGIC I decided to write the song about my best friend in the world, Janice.
We used to sing Beth Hirsch’s songs together for hours, so I asked Beth to sing on it and when I played it to Janice she was so over the moon. Janice inspired me to take my life into my own hands and without her, I wouldn’t be here. So I thank her, and Beth Hirsch whose voice soundtracked so many years, for helping me enjoy youth.
