Inspiration can come from anywhere. Including moments of upheaval, which often become both spark and fuel — shaking perspective and pushing an artist to dig deeper.
For Bay Area alternative folk artist Nick Costa, that inner reckoning poured straight into his latest LP, When the Lights Go Out. The record moves between lush, cinematic arrangements and raw, intimate performances, carrying the weight of change while still finding beauty in the everyday. We caught up with Nick to talk about the journey behind the album, the resilience at its core, and the stories he’s ready to share.
Nick Costa has always written songs with a cinematic eye, blending folk storytelling with light and shadow. His latest release, When the Lights Go Out, feels like both a culmination and a turning point — lush arrangements and raw, live performances shaped by a life-altering health scare in 2023. The result is an album that meditates on gratitude, fragility, and the flicker of everyday beauty. We caught up with Costa to talk about his journey, the city that inspires him, and the lessons he carried into this record.
SNQLX: Let’s start at the top—what first pulled you into making music, and when did it start feeling like more than just a hobby?
NICK: I always really loved music, ever since I was a kid. My Dad used to have music on all the time, and he would use it to bond with my siblings and I. I think when I really wanted to make music was after I heard blink-182’s Enema of the State when I was like 10 years old. Shortly after that I got a guitar, and since I was teaching myself, I ended up just writing stuff to learn how the instrument worked. After that, I was entirely consumed and just had to keep writing. I never, ever stopped.
SNQLX: You’re based in Los Angeles now. How does the city—the light, the chaos, the quiet moments—show up in your songs?
NICK: I’m actually now based in the Bay Area as of recently! But I love Los Angeles so much. I wrote a lot of songs while I was there, and I think it has a profound impact on my writing style.
My 2022 album Sunbleach is a bit more uptempo and poppy, and kind of feels like an accurate representation of how I felt during my first summer in LA.
I have another album written and recorded in LA that will be called The Overwhelming Feeling That Everything Is Suddenly Going To Change and that album has a bit more of a subdued sound, as the shine of a new city kind of wore off and I got to see it for more of what it was – which I still love.
SNQLX: Your writing leans toward storytelling with a cinematic edge. What kinds of images or emotions do you find yourself returning to again and again?
NICK: I always try to write very honestly, and I think in times where I’m writing a lot, there are similar themes because I’m trying to work through something or make sense of it. I’ve been writing since I was very young, so I think I’ve always used music as a way to regulate and process my emotions.
As far as imagery, I feel like I subconsciously use imagery of nature. Lots of flowers, gardens, etc. I think maybe because it’s great symbolism for life in general. The beauty and the brevity and all that jazz.
SNQLX: In the last couple of years, you began shaping what would become When the Lights Go Out. What was the spark that first set this collection of songs in motion?
NICK: I had a couple of songs that I had written that felt very ambitious, and I kind of set them on the back burner. In the spring of 2023, I ended up having a mini-stroke, and it made me want to actually flesh those ambitious songs out, just in case I had another stroke that wasn’t “mini” and I didn’t get a chance to do it.
SNQLX: The album has this big, cinematic feel—live takes, orchestral textures, and a raw intimacy. What was your vision going into the studio?
NICK: I listen to a lot of Randy Newman and Willie Nelson, and I kind of was daydreaming about what a collaboration between those two would be like. I think the cinematic thing comes from Randy’s influence for sure.
I also had always dreamed of making a record with a lot of string arrangements, and had the opportunity to make it happen. I sold almost all of my music gear and a bunch of my record collection to make it happen, and I’d do it again.
SNQLX: You brought in players like JT Bates and Cat Popper to help bring it to life. What did their fingerprints add to the record?
NICK: Guh, they’re the best. JT is one of the greatest drummers on the planet. He’s able to take a beat or a feel that seems familiar, but plays it in a way that you’d have never thought of. He also leaves a lot of space for the song to breathe and grow, which I love.
Cat is a legend as well, and I love how she plays upright. She plays on the songs “I’ll Never Stop Loving You” and “Sierra” and I love what she added to them. She really filled those songs out tremendously.
SNQLX: Then in 2023, your life shifted dramatically with a health scare. How did that experience change the way you approached finishing these songs?
NICK: It’s interesting, because I didn’t know whether or not I’d be well enough to take a long time for my parts, so in starting it I just rushed through it. I think most of my parts were done in like 2 or 3 takes, mostly live. After a while I realized that I was healthy and got the confirmation from my doctors that I wasn’t at risk of having a worse stroke in the near future, so I was able to really take a lot more time tweaking things and making sure all the other parts were just right. It allowed me to have a lot more patience with the songs than I normally would have had. This record took 2 years to make, where my other records probably took about a week.
The whole thing feels like a deep thought about what being alive is more so than what death is.
SNQLX: The title When the Lights Go Out suggests both fragility and resilience. What does that phrase mean to you now?
NICK: I think that question of “what happens when we die?” kind of follows us all around, even if we think we know. I think given the circumstances around the making of the album, the whole thing kind of feels like a deep thought about what being alive is more so than what death is. I think you nailed it with “fragility and resilience” because that’s what it is. That’s life.
SNQLX: After facing something so life-altering, what small, everyday details feel most worth capturing in song?
NICK: Seems maybe like an obvious answer, but I think it’s life. Just living. Things that seem mundane can be so beautiful. I’m lucky to have a strong love in my life, and I try to write about that a lot these days. There’s also a lot of grief, and anger, and frustration, and beauty that is really inspiring as far as songwriting goes.
SNQLX: Looking forward, how do you see this chapter shaping the music you’ll make next—or even the way you’ll live day to day?
NICK: I am very thankful for being able to work with Trevor Woggon, who did the string arrangements for this record. Working with him on this taught me so much about instrumentation and how to use an orchestra with pop or indie-folk or whatever genre I am’s songwriting style. Now I have a lot of songs for future records and I keep thinking “what if there was violin here” or “if I add electric guitar, how can I treat that like a viola or a cello part instead of a guitar part.” So I think as far as the music I make, that’s definitely something that I’ll take with me forever. I want to keep exploring that type of composition.
As for how I live, I’m not sure. I try and live one day at a time, and enjoy each moment as it passes. Everything is so fleeting, and we’re so lucky to be able to experience everything that we experience. There’s fish in the sea that have never experienced heartbreak! Can you believe it! Well, maybe they have but I don’t know. I feel like the human experience is so interesting, and most days I feel lucky that I get to be part of it.
Nick Costa’s words carry the same mix of tenderness and weight as his songs — grounded in gratitude, open to wonder, and never afraid to face the harder truths. When the Lights Go Out isn’t just a record; it’s a reminder of how fleeting and fragile life can be, and how much beauty can still be found in the in-between moments.
That’s a wrap on our conversation with Nick Costa. But the story doesn’t quite end here…We put him on the clock for our 60 Seconds With segment — three quick questions, full of personality.
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