Written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher and produced by Lotti Golden, Richard Scher, and John "Jellybean" Benitez,[1] the song appears on the group's debut album It's a Beat Wave (Prism Records) [2] charting on the Billboard R&B and dance charts.

"[4] The UK media outlet, the Guardian, on May 14, 2014, described "Light Years Away" as a "cornerstone of early 80's beatbox afrofuturism.

"[5] "Light Years Away" a sci-fi tale of ancient alien visitation, partially inspired by "The Message",[4] also pays homage to Sun Ra's film Space Is the Place.

Music journalist Rob Fitzpatrick characterizes "Light Years Away" as a cut above: "this new track was something else, a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of electro hip-hop, LYA traversed inner and outer space, matching rolling congas with vocoder voices and the hiss and sizzle of cutting edge synth and drum machine technology.

"[5] The rhyme in "Light Years Away" invokes a stark, cyberpunk Philip K. Dickian vision of the future.