Artist Spotlight: Francis and the Lights to Tour with MGMT and Drake

Francis and the Lights are preparing to take the music scene by storm. As if touring with world-famous hit-makers Drake and MGMT is not enough, the band has created the world’s first HTML5 embeddable album, tailored to the iPad and the new iOS4.  This eight-track record can be streamed literally anywhere on the web for free and with the touch of a fingertip.

Band leader Francis Farewell Starlite, carefully crafts lyrically rich pop songs that simply want to make him want to dance. With two much-hyped EPs under their belt, the band’s debut full length album, It’ll Be Better, is set to hit stores July 20th, although the majority of it can be heard, downloaded, and streamed now.  This novelty was created by Muxtape’s Justin Ouellette, and features the band’s newest music video “Darling, It’s Alright,” directed by bandmember Jake Schreier. In another mind-blowing move from Francis and the Lights, the video captures an actual live performance in a single take and uses a revolutionary filming technique known as “Editing with Light.” To film the scene, Francis stays fixed in one place while choreographed film lights reveal elements of the live performance – A fitting idea, considering the “Lights” in the band’s name refers not to a backing band, but to the actual stage lights themselves.

Along with technological ingenuity, Francis and the Lights is credited with collaborations on songs for Mark Ronson, Lyrics Born, and, perhaps most notably Drake, as band members created a unique track titled “Karaoke” for Drake’s debut album, Thank Me Later. Drake fell in love with the song and the band, and hand-picked them to accompany him on his first ever North American Tour this spring and summer.  With an eclectic sound, adrenaline-rushing performance quality, and passion-driven lyrics, Francis and the Lights are sure to stick around for quite a while.  Be sure to check out Francis and the Lights online and on tour with MGMT (dates listed below).  More info and the embeddable album are available through www.itllbebetter.com.

7/15   SDSU Open Air Theatre   San Diego, CA
7/16   Greek Theatre   Los Angeles, CA
7/18   Fox Theatre   Pomona, CA
7/21   Fox Theatre   Oakland, CA
7/23   Capitol Hill Block Party   Seattle, WA
7/24   Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
8/12   SOB’s, New York, NY
8/17   Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY