Colored Lights

An exercise in smart and well-crafted pop music, Colored Lights is a project from Norwegian musician Frode Strømstad that incorporates a rich variety of influences into an engaging and melodic whole. A studio group, Colored Lights matches Strømstad with several other notable Norwegian artists for songs that make room for sunshine pop, psychedelia, indie rock, and much more on their self-titled debut LP, recorded in January 2023 and released eight months later. Frode Strømstad is best known for his work with the popular Norwegian group I Was a King, as well as his side project with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, the No Ones. After a close friend and mentor lost his life, Strømstad went into the studio with a frequent musical collaborator, producer and engineer Bård Ingebrigtsen, to make music to honor their friend's memory. Along with his I Was a King bandmate Ole Reidar Gudmestad, participants in the sessions included singer and songwriter Frank "Tønes" Tønnesen, Ryan McPhun of the New Zealand group the Ruby Suns, keyboard player Marita Vårdal Igelkjøn, and Tomas Pettersen, drummer with the experimental metal band Ulver. Recorded in January 2023, Strømstad gave the ad hoc project the name Colored Lights, and as the finishing touches were being put on the album, the band made their live debut at Norway's Egersund Visefestival on June 30, 2023. The Colored Lights album was released in September 2023 by the Spanish indie label Bobo Integral.
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