PREMIERE: Charlie Phllps – “Little Red Light”

Words by: Madison Hetterly

Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Charlie Phllps mesmerizes with latest single “Little Red Light.” Beginning with indistinct chatter leading into a ticking clock holding rhythm behind Phllps’ soulful vocals, the track feels like being put under an R&B trance. Once the guitar and drum track come in, it takes a turn for a dance track feel in the best ways.

The lyrics are raw and personal, reflecting the passage of time and loss of a loved one. Using his vintage Smith Corona typewriter and acoustic guitar to create his craft, Phllps brilliantly shows vulnerability in his music that explores the deeper themes in life.

Be sure to follow Charlie Phllps on social media and check out his 8-song LP Pendulum that will be released August 10th! And stick around for a breakdown of the song below.

From Charlie:

“Little Red Light was written from a place of fear – a very physical fear of losing someone close to you; the fear of abduction. It was summer the summer of 2015 in New York City, and people were out in the streets protesting – protesting that fear of losing someone from senseless actions, protesting police brutality. I was at Electric Lady Studio studios on West 8th Street, home to Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo. I was sitting on the floor of the live room, listening to the silence of the room, listening for ghosts, and waiting on Phil Joly to finish up a mix in the other room. I sat for awhile at the feet of this old Fender-style Musicman tube amp – this little red light on the guitar amplifier kept blinking on and off at me – it looked like a UFO. It looked like a damn police siren.

There’s such innocence in that opening line of the song, “We were sitting in my room; we hadn’t gotten far. We picked a movie to watch about a car”, it reads like a 1960s sci-fi movie. The track represents growth as a musician for me, and a faith and trust in my producers. It started as this kind of 1960s R&B backbeat thing on a stratocaster, and grew into something totally different. The vocal is the original scratch vocal I cut in the closet of my apartment. I love that. There are tons of quirky piano samples, and 808 sounds, but dig that gnarly bassline Spencer is ripping. It’s all fuzzed out and I love that energy – it’s the driving force of the track.”

From Phil Joly (Producer, Engineer, Mixer):

“Little Red Light” is a song that Charlie wrote first as a guitar and vocal thread in off hours at Electric Lady. I think he came to visit me after we had both finished working for the day, and picked up a house guitar while I was finishing something up in the control room.

Spencer came up with this wild tom and drum sequence one day, which we manipulated in all types of ways. This song went through many different variations, with Moog Rogue bass line, and heavily electronic drum programming in some variations, almost like a dance track. In the end, we cut almost everything out of the track, recorded Mike Gordon playing live drums at Black Lodge, and Spencer replaced the keyboard bass at the last minute with a crazy blown up sound we pulled out of a bunch of overdriven gear on a fretless electric bass. We kept the first lead vocal charlie sang as a scratch, because it had the energy.

From Spencer Murphy (Producer, Bassist):

“Using a palette inspired by what was happening in the cutting edge of hip hop at the time, we re-arranged Charlie’s song into a pastiche of vocal processing and warped sound effects that reminds one of Peter Gabriel’s more explorative works.”