I fixate on a lot of strange things when coming up with song lyrics. Throughout the album there is a recurring theme of light and water, which are both at the forefront of Harbor Lights. I have been strangely infatuated with the culture and history of neon lights in Vancouver, and was particularly caught up in the contrasting imagery that these marquees shared with the night. The name Harbor Lights came from an evening my sister and I spent down by the water admiring the exaggerated reflections cast from the lights of tankers anchored in the bay. It was amazing how the colours stretched for what seemed like miles, something that almost led to the song being called Colours In The Bay.

The "chorus" of this song is a reference to Rutger Hauer's famous lines at the end of Blade Runner "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate." That idea of light contrasting with dark really resonated with me, and really was completed when Tristan told me stories about his bike trip down the Washington and Oregon coastline. One story in particular about a night spent on Cannon Beach really stuck with me, and it was the idea of him being alone on this dark stretch of beach with only himself as a source of light that sparked this chorus. I think they must have been putting acid in my drinking water that summer.

The recording of this song was very fun and natural, although it was one of the few instances we used a click track (only for the opening verses). The song begins with Tristan's monolith 1980's drum machine, but is really kicked into gear by Mark's guitar line that comes in. I remember him being particularly motivated by Johnny Greenwood's guitar tone for this song, and I think his part in the first verse is really a standout line on the whole record. I also remember him wanting a guitar riff that sounded "Dirt-On-ish", a tribute to our friends' band from Victoria, and his solo at the beginning of the outro really helps change the mood from yacht rock to something darker.

Although I think this is one of the strongest cuts from the record, my one regret is that I tried to do too much in the outro, and there is an overdub at 2:54 that I wish I could take back. Aside from that, there are some really neat parts in this song. Dan's arpeggiated rhode part at 2:24 does a wicked job of building up the tension. I also still have an appreciation for the backup vocals in the "chorus", although I feel guilty for jumping on the reverb vocal bandwagon. But hey, we're all human, right?