Dim Red Light (Make It Shine)

About the Album

“I feel pretty good and I swear I’m not lying,” Don DiLego sings at the top of his ecstatic new single, “Dim Red Light (Make It Shine)”. “This world’s on fire but I’m not afraid of dying.” It’s a timely sentiment given all we’ve been through over the course of the past year, but the truth is that DiLego wrote the song well before quarantines and lockdowns shuttered much of the music industry, back when making it through the day seemed like more of a metaphorical concern than a literal one.

“The lyrics have definitely taken on more weight since the pandemic hit,” DiLego says, “but the song’s about something more universal, about that often-elusive glimmer on the horizon that feels too far out of reach, even if it isn’t. At the end of the day, we’re in charge of our own destinies—or at least our own possibilities.”

Produced by longtime friend and collaborator Jesse Malin, “Dim Red Light” is a relentlessly optimistic declaration of hope and survival fueled by shimmering guitars and driving percussion. In classic DiLego fashion, the track hangs its hat on a soaring, addictive earworm of a chorus, but it’s the song’s uncharacteristically high-octane tempo that sets it apart from the “big city alt-country” (Rolling Stone) feel that’s traditionally defined DiLego’s sound, with a jittery, relentless delivery more reminiscent of The Smiths or The War On Drugs than Wilco or Son Volt. Malin adds, “When I heard him play ” Make it shine ” for the first time as a guest on our “Fine Art of Self-Distancing” show…I was so blown away that I asked him If I could produce it. It’s one of those driving songs that is full of heart, hope and hooks that dig in and become part of you.