Latvian artist Kristiāns Laizāns has announced his new alt-country project "Red Lung" and released a single "Baby Lightning" from his upcoming debut EP "Sleepless".
Kristians shares his feelings about the single in his own words:
The song has been awaiting its release since 2021, and I am overjoyed that it is finally seeing the light of day. However, at times, it did seem that the track would remain available only to me and a small circle of friends. “Baby Lightning” came to me at a time when I had serious doubts if I would ever be able to perform again. I was also troubled by a plethora of other issues that are by no means unique, but made me stick to writing as a means of respite and healthy distraction. I risk sounding like a dilettante saying this, but music has always liberated me from worries, and this has been especially true after going through countless quarantines and seeing the effects of war on fellow people not too far from home.
In its essence, "Baby Lightning" explores the subject of codependency and attaining pride in oneself without reliance on a romantic partner.
While this definitely doesn't capture the whole point of the song, I would love to leave the rest up to the listener. I see the song as an Alternative Country track and wanted to capture the empathetic nature of the genre while working on it. In this process, I was deeply inspired by artists like Jeff Tweedy, Jason Isbell, and the Drive-By-Truckers.
For the purpose of recording the vocals, Kristiāns chose to employ his living room, while in contrast, guitars and the accompanying instrumentation were captured in a recording studio. Several musicians from other local music projects participated in the recording of the song. They were Alise Golovacka (flute), Monta Sleže-Zaļkalne (violin), Jānis Steķis (bass guitar), Kalvis Sležis-Zaļkalns (drums). The track was recorded, mastered, and produced by Edvards Broders (Broders Audio).
Kristians first introduced himself to the local music scene as the leader of the prog/indie rock band "Be Reet" (2013-2017). Later on, he did regular sets as a DJ in Latvian venues and did several acoustic concerts, as well as released his 2020 single "Hang of This" under the moniker of “Tavs Puisis”.
