I’ve been pretty inspired by Pretty Lights lately and I’ve been rocking his music ever since seeing his set at Outside Lands this year, but I’m bummed that we didn’t get the new Pretty Lights with drummer extraordinaire Adam Deitch. He adds a whole element to the sound that really matters when you’re catching it live. Let’s first see how they sounded together at Red Rocks earlier this year…

Compare that to how it sounded at Outside Lands…

North Coast Music Festival had the full shebang…

I know the videos aren’t perfect comparisons, but I’d say it’s pretty clear that adding a drummer to the mix is something that wonderfully augments the stylings of Derek Vincent Smith (or DVS). I’m a fan either way, but the videos sum up an extra energy that would be present when Pretty Lights is at their best form these days. Too bad we won’t see his efforts in the studio yet either; in this interview with Consequence of Sound, DVS said that he’s still got one more EP to drop before we see any new stuff from Deitch…

Given Deitch’s history with production, will he play a further role in the creation of Pretty Lights recordings?
For now, no. I have totally created everything that I have released, and I want to continue do to that with the third EP. There is a flow between the three EPs, a certain line of creativity, and I want to complete that. In the future, though, I do envision a larger role for Adam.