It reached the number two spot on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Charts and it received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronica Album. The album was both a commercial and critical success. Instead of using samples, Pretty Lights composed all of the music and used analog synths to achieve some of the grittier tones on the album. On Pretty Lights’ 2013 album “A Color Map of the Sun” Smith decided to challenge himself by making the album without the use of any samples. The smooth sounds of the Fender Rhodes electronic piano and jazz flute are consistently heard in his music and nicely juxtapose the modern electronic sounds that he produces with synths. He is fond of using old school samples that are chopped up and placed throughout his music to create a chill, laid back sound. Smith’s music caught the audience’s attention with his ability to mix hip-hop beats, jazz riffs, funk, and electronic music together to create interesting sounds.

This album featured the hit song “Finally Moving”, which is a consistent crowd pleaser during Pretty Lights' live shows.Īfter the release of Pretty Lights’ debut album Smith began touring regularly and started to gain a large following after opening for huge acts such as STS9 and Widespread Panic. Smith and his friend Michal Menert officially formed Pretty Lights in the Summer of 2004, but didn’t release their first album “Taking Up Your Precious Time” until 2006.

Smith wrote hip-hop music throughout high school and college, and would later drop out of college to pursue music full time.

Anthem lights band live