A COLOR MAP OF THE SUN

Pretty Lights are the moments that catch our eyes. They are the things that make us look twice, think twice or inspire us to create our own version of beauty. They are everywhere and all the time. During the massive musical project that was making this album, I learned ofanexperiment performed by Isaac Newton in the 1670s. He was conducting tests with light and prisms when he discovered that all color exists within white light. Using a prism to separate a thin beam of sunlight into all the colors of light, he witnessed the entire spectrum of visible color disperse across the room. He described what he saw, quite poetically, as a color map of the sun. That phrase resonated with me and eventually took on a broader meaning, a kind of a romantic description of the vibrations by which we perceive the world. Light is vibration, sound is vibration and we are beyond lucky to be able to experience and manipulate both. With A Color Map of the Sun I set out to create an album that was everything I wanted to hear in an album: diversity and consistency, cohesiveness and unpredictability, beauty and sadness and optimism but mostly, really, I just wanted to make good music. I wanted to manifest my vision of an evolved Pretty Lights style that was fresh and original with a sound that was old, warm and soulful. In the past I would produce music by fusing live instrumentation and electronic synthesis with sampling old, obscure vinyl. I would use upwards of 25 samples from different records for a single song and through a process of chopping, tuning, stretching and a multitude of other techniques, I would make all of the pieces sound as if they were meant to exist together from the beginning in a completely new and original song. To make A Color Map of the Sun I rst created an entire collection of records of my own compositions. It wasnt as simple as recording a bunch of music and pressing it to vinyl though. To truly recreate the sound and feel of old vinyl, it was absolutely crucial to pay the utmost attention to every detail. Everything had to be right; the instruments, the microphones, the mixing board, the tape machine, and especially the studio and the vibe. I was attempting to compose music from so many genres and make the recordings sound like they were from several different time periods. I did this because I wanted to have as many options as possible while digging through the recordings later when producing songs for the actual album. All of the composition and sound design happened on the y, in the moment, and with the single intention of creating amazing sounding music. I emulated the recording process of small soul record labels from the sixties by recording an entire band in the same room to stereo tape with all analog gear, no multi-tracking and no computers. By putting together different groups of musicians on a daily basis, different bands were formed with the purpose of playing styles from funk, soul and jazz, to folk, rock and classical. I searched out the most bizarre instruments and the most original instrumentalists to capture extremely unique sounds sometimes with instruments Id never even heard of, marxophone, koto, nyckelharpa, music boxes, toy piano, trumpet-violin, harmonium and on and on. I searched for vocalists that could take my lyrics and put their own incredible soul and emotion into them. I made beats for some of my favorite rappers in exchange for the ability to chop up the lyrics they wrote. Through all of this, I absolutely fell in love with the sound of analog. Im not sure I could really tell the difference before this massive experiment but I most denitely learned to. Because of that, there was no way I could use anything but completely analog synthesis for the electronic sounds throughout the entire record. I built a modular synthesizer for this project and taught myself how to use it while on tour. Every electronic sound on the record was created with that modular synth. After spending a year making vinyl, creating sounds, recording vocals and learning how to use an analog modular synth, I spent the next year crafting and producing songs. I did so in basically the same way I had before this project but I had a very different relationship to all the sounds I was using. I had forgotten about a lot of the music and sounds by the time I got around to producing with them but I always remembered how the sounds were created. Even the smallest pieces had a story and a memory I could look back on. The process was truly inspiring in and of itself. I learned more than I thought possible about music, about people, about myself and mostly about life. I really learned to appreciate slowing down and trying to enjoy every moment for what it is rather than always looking forward to the next thing, the next milestone in life. Its all life and its all beautiful. -Derek Vincent Smith

A COLOR MAP OF THE SUN

All songs written, composed, sampled, mangled, reconstructed, ipped, chopped and arranged by Derek Vincent Smith. All lyrics written by Derek Vincent Smith (or re-imagined from traditional gospel and folk songs). Recorded at Studio G in Brooklyn, Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, PL Studio in Denver, and the PL Tour Bus Studio all over the United States. All songs produced by Derek Vincent Smith. All songs engineered by Derek Vincent Smith and Joel Hamilton. All songs mixed by Joel Hamilton and Derek Vincent Smith except Prophet, So Bright, Vibe Vendetta mixed by XOQ and Derek Vincent Smith. A Color Map of the Sun Mastered by XOQ. Live Studio Sessions From A Color Map of the Sun Mastered by Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Front and back cover art by Scott Hansen aka ISO50. Art Direction of photo booklet by Krystle Blackburn and Scott Hansen. Layout by The Uprising Creative. All Photography by Krystle Blackburn.

STUDIO G SESSIONS
BROOKLYN, NY
Derek Vincent Smith - Producer, Music Director Joel Hamilton -Engineer, Analog Mastermind Francisco Botero -Assistant Engineer Matt Labozza - Assistant Engineer Mike Jinno - Assistant Engineer Alexis Berthelot - Assistant Engineer Jason Crosby - Viola Garth Stevenson - Upright Bass Jordan McLean -Trumpet Matthias Bossi -Piano, Percussion Carla Kihlstedt -Nyckelharpa, Trumpet Violin, Violin, Vocals Stu Brooks -Electric Bass Mike Deller -Keys Joe McGinty -Wurlitzer, Hammond B3 Joel Hamilton - Waterphone, Drums, Live Analog Effects Ches Gordon Smith - Vibraphone

MUSICIANS
Adam Deitch -Drums, Percussion Nigel Hall -Wurlitzer, Hammond B3, Piano Eric Krasno - Electric Guitar, Electric Bass Derek Vincent Smith - Electric Bass, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, Resonator Mandolin, Flute, Modular Synthesizers, Music Box, Piano, Toy Piano, Thai Accordion Reeds, Hawaiian Art Violin, Marxophone, Harmonium, Live Analog Effects, MPC2500 Phil Salvaggio -Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Wurlitzer Dave Smoota Smith -Trombone

VOCALISTS
Yolanda Hagins of the Harlem Gospel Choir Shakira Jones of the Harlem Gospel Choir Nigel Hall Jedediah Parish Connie Petruk

PIETY STREET RECORDING SESSIONS

NEW ORLEANS, LA
Derek Vincent Smith - Producer, Music Director Wesley Fontenot -Engineer Earl Scioneaux III - Assistant Engineer Jeff Albert -Trombone Wes Anderson - Trombone Earl Scioneaux III - Wurlitzer, Hammond B3

THANK YOU
This project started as a light bulb ickering above my head in the beginning of 2011 and took over two years to bring to completion. Along the way there have been so many people that have been completely integral in making this record a reality, without whom this idea/project/experiment/album would never have been possible. First of all, I want to thank the love of my life, Krystle Blackburn, who has been by my side every step of the way, always giving me truthful opinions, wise advice and sincere encouragement. Also for taking beautiful photos and documenting the entire process with a keen and ready eye. I want to thank Joel Hamilton for being the best and coolest engineer I ever could have dreamt of working with. Joel opened my mind to so many sounds and ideas and he was the mastermind who made it possible to make the tape recordings actually sound like sessions that were recorded several decades ago, amazing skills! I want to thank Adam Deitch and Eric Krasno in Brooklyn, and Ben Jaffe and Brian Coogan in New Orleans for not only being incredible musicians on the record but also for introducing me to the massive variety of musicians that I wanted to work with during the recording sessions. I want to thank Randy Reed, Adam Foley, and Sheneza Mohammed for managing this project (and me) and working tirelessly behind the scenes so that I could focus as much of my energy on the MUSIC as possible. Damn. I am realizing how many people I really want to thank so I am just going to list everyone off in no particular order. Thank you so much for everything youve done, just know that I am incredibly grateful. I want to thank every musician, singer and lyricist involved in this project for working with me and helping make the sounds in my head come to life, Phil Salvaggio for countless amounts of help in so many aspects of the recording process and in the PL touring world (especially his incredible ight booking skills), Greg Ellis aka the Lazer Shark for being the worlds best lighting designer and an awesome friend, my entire touring crew for making all the live shows go off incredibly smooth, David Najarian and his team at RadioEdit for working on all the beautiful visuals to accompany the songs and Scott Hansen aka ISO50 for beautiful album art. I want to thank my whole family for being so understanding regarding how busy I am and always being extremely supportive, especially my mother, my little brother Joseph and my nephew Isaac. I want to thank Ginger Perry, Sophie Reeves and Amy Neale for being awesome assistants throughout and making everything less stressful, Hunter Williams (and his team) for being an incredible agent and friendand always working on making me extra busy even when Im trying to produce an album ;-), Matthew Brown for his help on the album documentary, Michael Fiebach and his team at Fame House, the entire Red Light team, Ambrosia Healey and Erin Cooney at The Fun Star, Kevin Wortis at Girlie Action, everyone at Studio G, everyone at Piety Street Recording, Barry & Linda Blackburn for their support and love, Paul Gold at Salt Mastering, Dwight Wiles and Katie Cline at Smith Wiles & Co, Reid Hunter and David Gold for amazing legal support, Dr. Buzz & Dr. G for keeping me healthy and being great friends, and of course, the entire PLM crew of artists for being incredible friends and always inspiring me and each other. Oh and Krystle and Is kitten, Neko, she is the shit and she goes everywhere that we do. I want to give a massive thank you and shout out to the PL Family and all the loyal and supportive fans everywhere. I am innitely appreciative. I make this music for us; without all of you, there is no way this album would have ever materialized. Keep it fresh. Peace. -Derek Vincent Smith

MUSICIANS
Brian Coogan -Piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3, Toy Piano Ben Jaffe -Upright Bass, Tuba Derek Vincent Smith - Electric Bass, Wurlitzer Simon Lott -Drums Detroit Brooks -Electric Guitar Carl LeBlanc -Electric Guitar Mario Abney -Trumpet Rod Hodges -Electric Slide Guitars Andrew Baham -Trumpet

VOCALISTS
Big Al Carson Thais Clark Uncle Lionel Batiste Thomas Singleton Glen David Andrews

MCs
Talib Kweli - Featured on Around The Block The Grouch - Appears on Lets Get Busy Eligh - Featured on So Bright and appears on Lets Get Busy Lyrics Born - Appears on Vibe Vendetta C1 of The Foodchain - Appears on Go Down Sunshine

ORCHESTRATION AND STRINGS

Philip Sheppard - Cello, Electric Cello, Violin, Viol

DRUMS

All live drums that were sampled, chopped and ipped on A Color Map of the Sun were played by Adam Deitch.

Live Studio Sessions from

A Color Map Of The Sun

Color Of My Soul Press Pause Lets Get Busy Around The Block (featuring Talib Kweli) Yellow Bird Go Down Sunshine So Bright
(featuring Eligh)

A Color Map Of The Sun

Reel 15 Break 5 Reel 5 Break 3 Reel 9 Break 6 Reel 11 Break 2 Reel 6 Break 4 Reel 8 Break 2 Reel 18 Session 1 Reel 17 Break 4 Reel 4 Break 3 Reel 12 Break 2 Reel 6 Break 5 Reel 3 Break 3 Reel 7 Break 1

Vibe Vendetta Done Wrong Prophet One Day Theyll Know Always All Ways My Only Hope Where Im Trying To Go (Bonus) All Ive Ever Known (Bonus) Sweet Long Life (Bonus)

z 2013 8 Minutes 20 Seconds Records Published by 8 Minutes 20 Seconds Publishing (ASCAP)