First Time Visitors: Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Watch Someone Make Music?

Here’s the trailer for Behind the Lights, the Substack publication featuring music by Pretty City Lights.

Pretty City Lights

Sep 04, 2024

Transcript

Hello.

My name is Ryno. I make music. My band is called Pretty City Lights. My multimedia newsletter is Behind the Lights, where you are now.

I sincerely hope you enjoy what I’m doing here. 🕊️

Learn More

Please visit the Behind the Lights ABOUT page to learn more about where we are headed.

ABOUT Behind the Lights

Subscription Page

About the author

Ryan OToole (aka, RYNO) is a skateboarder from Arizona with too many film degrees, who writes songs for Pretty City Lights—a new music project based in Seoul, South Korea. His songs have been described as, "alternative rock for people dying of middle age". Formerly associated with the band, Amateur Blonde, his songs have been featured in television and film - notably, The Walking Dead (S10 Ep21). RYNO is the author of Behind The Lights a freemium substack publication, documenting the Pretty City Lights song & album creation process with the slogan, “watch me make music”.

Discussion about this podcast

Pretty City Lights Podcast

Grab a cup of coffee and lean back in your chair. It's time to chill out with the soothing voice of Ryno!

This is the official podcast of Pretty City Lights. It's connected to the band's Substack, where there's much more to exclusive content to explore.

Visit the homepage: www.behindthelights.org

Visit the band website: www.prettycitylights.com

Visit the official store: www.wearoutthelights.com

Podcast Description:

Sitting at his songwriter's workbench, Ryno leans back in his chair to share his deepest thoughts, embarrassing experiences, and profound discoveries, exploring how his songs fit into the world today and the significance of songwriting in his personal growth. Grab a cup of coffee and join Ryno as he explores the genesis of his lyrics, sonic creations, and song-making process, with stories from past and present, encountered on the journey of a DIY songwriter & recording artist.

Style Notes:

This podcast is an extension of the newsletter, but is an entirely different experience. Some of our readers have suggested they prefer podcasts to reading. This podcast has a specific intention with its style. It’s read in a slower, more chilled-out, contemplative manner. The topic, and even the genre, for each episode may change, but all episodes shall be refined and focused. This podcast is intended for adults, but it does not contain foul language, religious or political views. It’s dedicated to people who listen to music more deeply. Keywords: songwriting craft | musician’s journey | DIY creative process | exclusive music | life lessons | lyric meaning | existential reflection |

Expanding the Form:

For now, this podcast is nonfiction, but it may evolve in style. As a child, Ryno was introduced to reading through ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ books. This second-person story telling style, where the narrator is not entirely reliable—e.g. “imagine yourself in a maze, which way will you go?”—asks the reader to adopt the role of protagonist. This is very similar to the experience of songs by the listener. So, in the future, expect Ryno to introduce some fun fictional additions to his discussion, giving listeners a key at the end of each show that identifies what was true vs fictional. This will be made very clear at the top of the episode.

About the author

Ryan OToole (aka, RYNO) is a skateboarder from Arizona with too many film degrees, who writes songs for Pretty City Lights—a new music project based in Seoul, South Korea. His songs have been described as, "alternative rock for people dying of middle age". Formerly associated with the band, Amateur Blonde, his songs have been featured in television and film - notably, The Walking Dead (S10 Ep21). RYNO is the author of Behind The Lights, a freemium substack publication, documenting the Pretty City Lights song & album creation process with the slogan, “watch me make music”.

Grab a cup of coffee and lean back in your chair. It's time to chill out with the soothing voice of Ryno! - This is the official podcast of Pretty City Lights. It's connected to the band's Substack, where there's much more to exclusive content to explore. Visit the homepage: www.behindthelights.org Visit the band website: www.prettycitylights.com Visit the official store: www.wearoutthelights.com Podcast Description: Sitting at his songwriter's workbench, Ryno leans back in his chair to share his deepest thoughts, embarrassing experiences, and profound discoveries, exploring how his songs fit into the world today and the significance of songwriting in his personal growth. Grab a cup of coffee and join Ryno as he explores the genesis of his lyrics, sonic creations, and song-making process, with stories from past and present, encountered on the journey of a DIY songwriter & recording artist. Style Notes: This podcast is an extension of the newsletter, but is an entirely different experience. Some of our readers have suggested they prefer podcasts to reading. This podcast has a specific intention with its style. It’s read in a slower, more chilled-out, contemplative manner. The topic, and even the genre, for each episode may change, but all episodes shall be refined and focused. This podcast is intended for adults, but it does not contain foul language, religious or political views. It’s dedicated to people who listen to music more deeply. Keywords: songwriting craft | musician’s journey | DIY creative process | exclusive music | life lessons | lyric meaning | existential reflection | Expanding the Form: For now, this podcast is nonfiction, but it may evolve in style. As a child, Ryno was introduced to reading through ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ books. This second-person story telling style, where the narrator is not entirely reliable—e.g. “imagine yourself in a maze, which way will you go?”—asks the reader to adopt the role of protagonist. This is very similar to the experience of songs by the listener. So, in the future, expect Ryno to introduce some fun fictional additions to his discussion, giving listeners a key at the end of each show that identifies what was true vs fictional. This will be made very clear at the top of the episode. About the author Ryan OToole (aka, RYNO) is a skateboarder from Arizona with too many film degrees, who writes songs for Pretty City Lights—a new music project based in Seoul, South Korea. His songs have been described as, "alternative rock for people dying of middle age". Formerly associated with the band, Amateur Blonde, his songs have been featured in television and film - notably, The Walking Dead (S10 Ep21). RYNO is the author of Behind The Lights, a freemium substack publication, documenting the Pretty City Lights song & album creation process with the slogan, “watch me make music”.

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