“You can hear every step of her path in Lily’s singing. Right lovers and right now ones, wrong decisions and being wronged, moves forward and time out, hurt and heart”
“… that same wilful commitment to following her own path characterises many of Lily’s musical and life choices …”
It all starts with jazz. Lily took to piano lessons as a child growing up, and it was jazz rather than classical music which motivated her to push her skills. That wasn’t easy given how much she moved around as a kid, Mum more or less Italian and Dad’s clan scattered across Asia and Europe. Most teens rebel with parents around staying-out times and unsuitable partners. For Lily it was the hours she devoted daily listening to the sounds of George Duke, Nina Simone, and Prince.
That same wilful commitment to following her own path characterises many of Lily’s musical and life choices. Now, soon to turn 30 and based in Australia, Lily is as talented vocally as she is with keyboards. She arranges vocals for others as well as in her own work. Her inventive approach to splitting parts in ways that feel right provides subtle surprises for the attentive.
You can hear every step of her path in Lily’s singing. Right lovers and right now ones, wrong decisions and being wronged, moves forward and time out, hurt and heart. Lily knows more of the classic songbook than she’d like to admit outside the company of fellow geeks, from Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald through to Debbie Harry (Jazz Passengers as well as Blondie). And that background allied with innate taste means she inhabits songs she chooses with unshowy conviction.
And, Lily’s got the mastery and understanding of music history for those moments to be definitive, knowing that for the vocals at least of the work she’s doing, the buck stops with her. And for Lily herself the songs she’s developing now – most of all the ones she’s writing – are just the start.
Charlie Reynolds
Lily | Dreamer (Official Music Video) | Ode To The Dudes | Youtube
“… and then the voice, just over a minute in Lily sashays in, and we know we’re in good hands”
It’s the details that count. In creating a mood, setting a frame, building expectations. That’s present both in the theme of Lily’s song, and the way it accomplishes that intent with aching precision. She’s singing about that point we can so easily feel our way into – of a lover coming round, the prospect of emotion underlying physical pleasure being released, and the excitement and trepidation about all of that.
Those details? The piano intro. 18 seconds of sophisticated bliss accompanied by some light electronics before wordless vocals and then a rhythm and strings drop in. Then – the voice. Just over a minute in, Lily sashays in accompanied by an expertly played bass, and we know we’re in good hands.
That foundation of bass and voice anchors the song from there, an emotional core which allows giddy electronics to spark as Lily contemplates her love, what it is, what it could be, what that might mean. This is sophisto-pop of a rare calibre, one that could only be delivered by a singer who truly knows her way around a song. Take her hand. Go with her.
Lily | Dreaming About You (Official Music Video) | Ode To The Dudes | Youtube
“Lily, painting the everyday with a voice transparently heartfelt and moving”
It took a while to click with where Lily’s song was taking me. There’s a timelessness about ‘Tomorrow’, as there is with many a love song. That’s part of the deal: the singer inhabits the lyric and breathes into it their own history of bliss and break-up so it works for them, and the listener, in a way distinct from any other performer who’d approach the same words.
‘Tomorrow’ is also a song about music, and musicians, or the particular kind of music that those we love bring to our lives. “… come tomorrow you’ll be here, I can feel you getting near …”. At first listen it’s not one of writer Billie Reid’s strongest outings, until you appreciate the ways he’s weaving more or less universal experiences to swathe the listener in emotions that Lily delivers with wistful conviction.
Maybe a chirpier reference point would be ‘Pleasantville’, a classic movie from a few years back with a contemporary brother and sister magicked into a black and white sitcom from another age. The sister brings colour to the world they’re dropped into, allowing locals to experience music and art and love in ways that enliven them. And that right there is Lily. Painting the everyday with a voice transparently heartfelt and moving, never more so than in a sequence towards the end of the song when the instrumentation drops out and her multi-tracked vocals hang in the air, there and then gone like the last day of summer.
Lily | Tomorrow (Official Music Video) | Ode To The Dudes | Youtube
“Talented singer-songwriter Billie Reid and charming Nightingale Lily breathe life into music”
The talented singer-songwriter and visionary, Billie Reid and the charming nightingale Lily, are two gifted musicians imbuing tenderness and authenticity into the heart of their music. With Billie’s poetic facility and Lily’s sweet, savory voice, the two musical pros offer a meal for our ears with a more appetizing and innovative flair. Abandoning the bandwagon of trendy, sell-out lyrics and provocative melodies, the artists breathe passion and honesty into their songs.
This passion is sensitively reinforced in Lily’s music videos for her ‘Dreamer’ EP, which captures her as she sings two Billie Reid penned tracks in a live studio setting. Lily offers us uninhibited sincerity as she evokes the honesty of Norah Jones and the soulful, reflective emotion of Bailey Ray. There is an unencumbered naturalism about the setting, the realism and authenticity is accentuated exposing the trueness behind Billie’s lyrics. Her sentiment matches brilliantly with her rich, silky voice, creating a powerful penetrating effect.
Lily does not try to be a glittery, melodramatic twenty-something belting out bogus love songs. Rather, she confronts these tacky clichés, breathing courage and grace into the core of her music. Lily possesses a rare, effortless sophistication filled with nuances of serenity that is calming to the soul, and is truly the ideal voice to convey the expressive metaphors and sweet harmonies of Billie’s music. Through Lily’s musical tranquility and Billie Reid’s artistic lyrics, we receive a refreshing treat for the senses.
* Somewhere in the embers of last century, the work of songwriter, poet, shaman Billie Reid started to exert a pull on other independent-minded Australian talents. Stories can, and maybe will, be read about those adventures. At this point, the vessel for that work has, since 2020, been our music production biz Soundscape Media.
Billie Reid’s talents are the molten core of what we do. To those who’ve come across him, Billie’s an irascible generational talent. And we want the number of those who share that impression to grow.
Sharing the load, and bringing a canny female take on Billie’s words, is versatile Fremantle-based singer and classy piano player Lily – who’s also writing impressive material of her own.
Our artist collaboration list also includes in-house stormcrow Quinlan Porteous – a man who’s weathered years of industry bs and continues to find redemption in music regardless. As do we all.
Let’s hear it too for Wayne A Halifax, the man whose vibe Chris Isaak channelled. And never mind which came first – sometimes those who follow get it right, and Wayne has the advantage of Billie’s lyrics. As does Alfredo Malabello, cursed by Universal Music Australia describing him as the country’s “Voice of Romance”. He’s more content, and rightly, with the tag “Australia’s Leonard Cohen”.
Soundscape sounds dip in and out of alt-rock, Americana, and smart pop. Our production styles range from roots-raw to Netflix-friendly rock with splashes and squeals of electronica. We can do polished, but we’re a fan of loose edges and first take magic too. And we look forward to hearing from you – about what we’ve done, what we’re doing now, and what we could perhaps do together. Soundscape Media.
