“Oh my. Its mood of not-quite-happy is at the core of this song. I love that Lily doesn’t share the details, allowing me as listener to populate this three minutes of sophisto-pop perfection with my own emotional back catalogue …“
“I love the delicacy of the track, a miniature that leaves me wanting more. And I love that hook, too classy to sound like one while serving just that function – a delicious barb tugging at the memory of a time and place things could have turned out different“
I’ve heard Lily sing beautifully before, and the arrangements she’s done for her own songs and others make clear she is an exceptional talent. Added to that she’s a pianist of high calibre, her classical and jazz chops lightly worn. ‘Lying’ is a first in the way it captures all of those elements in a musical setting she’s worked on with Australian producer SquidEyes. And it makes me squee.
Squee is not a technical term – but you’re sure to have come across musical moments that produce a particular reaction every time you hear the damn thing. They can be small …. the fairy-dust Prince brought to so many of his productions, perfect vocal glitches that make a song work even though it’s wrong, a guitar break that leaves you grinning for no reason.
Here, skipping across the keys, it’s a delicious piano refrain that comes back a few times. Simple, wistful, perfectly placed, equal parts Erik Satie and Bruce Hornsby. Oh my. Its mood of not-quite-happy is at the core of this song. I love that Lily doesn’t share the details, allowing me as listener to populate this three minutes of sophisto-pop perfection with my own emotional back catalogue. I love the delicacy of the track, a miniature that leaves me wanting more. And I love that hook, too classy to sound like one while serving just that function – a delicious barb tugging at the memory of a time and place things could have turned out different.
It’d be easy to imagine this song existing within a different setting. Back to the sixties and plaintive trumpet and brushed drums would have supported the feel of ‘Lying’. Here, a hushed electronic vapour shrouds the song from time to time. Not what a producer working with Ella Fitzgerald would have opted for – but just as perfect without the need to use a “real” instrument, emotional and sonic atmosphere in uneasy harmony. I’m keeping fingers crossed for Lily and SquidEyes to work together more often.
Charlie Reynolds
Lily | Enchantress Lily Playlist | Ode To The Dudes | Youtube
“Australian singer Lily inhabits songs she chooses with unshowy conviction”
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.
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. 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.
“Australian songbird Lily can paint a thousand pictures with a simple croon”
Lily is an Australian singer-songwriter based in Fremantle, Australia. She was introduced to the world through her ‘Dreamer’ EP on which she performs beautiful love songs penned by her collaborative partner Billie Reid. More recently she has stepped out on her own with her single ‘Ariel’, to expose the world to her raw and evocative songwriting, alongside her gorgeous vocal talent.
Easy listening is a tagline that’s often attached to artists of a sombre character, and songwriters who pen democratic pieces of love and loss. These musicians selflessly offer their material for listeners to adopt the world over. Their lyrics are captivating beasts that embody the fragile and complicated nature of society and, in particular, the way in which we engage with one another. Their words are usually pivotal to their music, not just because of their demanding nature, but because of the way they’re delivered – carefully, with control, but also with ample feeling. The description of “easy” does little to reflect the soulful depths of these purveyors of heart. In-fact, it can corrupt the representation.
A standout aspect of Lily’s career to date is undoubtedly her vocal. The 29-year-old’s voice contains wisdom well beyond her years, calling out to the depths of time to expose an enduring and unforgettable quality. It’s the kind of soulful power that her peers crave and her seniors strive to get back. Lily can paint a thousand pictures with a simple croon, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
* 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.
