Artist’s follow-up to 2% Milk debut out Oct. 21; Lilly’s friends
(Inara George, John Vanderslice, her dead cat Hank) are also her lyrics on
“Frank.”
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Alex Lilly as photographed by Daiana Feuer
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Alex Lilly – In The Press
“Alex Lilly’s
songs keep their cool.” — The New York
Times
“Alex Lilly
is the genuine article.” — FLOOD
“Pretty freaking awesome.” — FADER
“Alex Lilly
is spellbinding. Album of The Week” —
LA Weekly
“Alex Lilly
steps into the spotlight.” — Flaunt
“Three-minute modern art pieces.” — Buzz Bands
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PLAY, POST
& SHARE
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“Lilly
introduces the album on a decidedly whimsical note — and she’s exceptional at
that.” — Buzz Bands on “Frank” by Alex Lilly
Listen to “Frank,”
taken from the upcoming sophomore album Repetition Is A Sin by Alex Lilly arriving Oct. 21 on Release Me Records. Hear it now via Buzz
Bands, Riff, or MXDWN,
or at the links above!
“The people mentioned in ‘Frank’ are all real people, except for Frank,” says Alex Lilly. “These include Barbara (Gruska), my best friend,
drummer and musician who I’ve played with since the early days. Also, John (Vanderslice), a songwriter and
cat lover whose studio I recorded much of the new record at.
“Vikram
Devasthali is a trombonist who plays on this very song! Inara (George) is a songstress and
one-half of The Bird and The Bee
whose music I heard when I first moved to Los Angeles and fell in love with. Daiana (Feuer) is a ukulele shredder
and photographer. ‘Frank,’ the man sitting in a burning chair at the bar... I
don’t know who he is. Maybe I will someday.”
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Alex Lilly
Repetition
Is A Sin
(Release Me Records)
Oct. 21, 2022
Track Listing:
01. Pure Drivel
03. I’m Getting Better At Falling In Love
04. Spirit
05. Rosalind
06. Delight Me
07. Human
08. Melinda
09. Afternoon In Bloom
10. Bugs Bunny
11. Built For Chaos
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Alex Lilly | About
Repetition is a sin — is it a mantra? A judgment? A
fact?
Repetition Is A Sin is the title of the upcoming second album by Alex Lilly.
Repetition Is A Sin is also a cliffhanger! Will Lilly live up to the challenge she’s issued to herself following
the hearty praise for her 2019 debut 2% Milk?
“Everything about this debut album by Alex Lilly is spellbinding,” said L.A. Weekly. “Pretty freaking awesome”
and “the genuine article” wrote The
FADER and FLOOD. NPR’s Los Angeles affiliate KCRW called 2% Milk “a pleasure” and Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times that Lilly’s songs deliver “structural and
emotional complexity with deceptive nonchalance.”
Lilly’s talents are on point for other artists, as well.
Her co-write of “I Like Girls” for
jazz vocalist Samantha Sidley (“Now
she’s gluing garden gnomes to geodesic domes, people call it junk, I call it
art”) spring boarded that record to a “Top
10 Album of The Year” nod from the Los
Angeles Times.
Spoiler alert!
Lilly’s latest fulfills the promises she made with her
first album and much more.
First, Repetition Is A Sin is funny!
Conversational and free, it is the sound of self-actualization. Lilly’s thoughtful and intelligent
wordplay, unexpected and exhilarating production touches, and emotional
vulnerability are pure joy.
Contrasting this with Lilly’s awesome sense of humor, it is also pure power!
And so, with the album opener and first single “Pure Drivel,” Lilly issues an anthem and rebel yell for... librarians! Because, of course.
“I know you canceled all your plans
So come over let’s read some books that got banned
mama”
“I wanted to write a
stay-in date night about reading — a nerdy booty call,” she says. “I was in a book club over the
pandemic, which was interesting as we mostly just drank and smoked and never
finished a single book.” Lilly then
quickly adds, “I’m not proud of this!”
Lilly spent part of her pre-solo career touring as part of Beck’s band and he attended Lilly’s book club to read the first
chapter of “Moby Dick.”
“Because we never finished it, I can only confirm that
the first half of ‘Moby Dick’ is
great,” she jokes.
What Lilly
can confirm absolutely is that Repetition Is A Sin “feels
emotionally brighter and more jewel-toned than 2% Milk.”
The trifecta of tunes that open Repetition Is A Sin
include “Frank,” in which Lilly mentions her closest friends by
name while questioning if she will get to party with them in the afterlife.
“I don’t wanna go to heaven
Cuz none of my friends will be there
No one will be
Getting plastered with me
In the air”
“These are all real people mentioned in the song
except for Frank,” Lilly explains.
“I don’t know who he is. Maybe I will someday.”
The many character-driven songs on the album were
partially inspired by the pandemic.
“Being isolated from people for a bit spurred me on,” Lilly says. “I had a hobby for a while
where I was commissioned to write theme songs for humans, including this spectacularly talented and cute tap dancer
living in Los Angeles.”
That project inspired the album’s “Melinda.” “Well if I ever turn gay, let’s go, If you ever stop
being straight, Well let me know,” Lilly
sings.
“It was a lot of fun and I continued the idea of song
portraits for several other tracks on this record, almost like creating my own
company that includes friends (“Frank”),
movie stars (“Rosalind”), a cartoon
character’s alter ego (“Bugs Bunny”),
my grandma (“Spirit”), and Frank,
the made-up drunk.”
The album’s most moving tune is next, a love song like
no other. It is an all or nothing moment for Lilly. “I’m Getting Better
At Falling In Love” is confessional, vulnerable, optimistic, and hopeful.
And of course, hilarious:
“I’m getting better at falling in love
I’m getting so good, gotta mind to do it full-time
Love muscles getting buff
Now it’s all that I can do”
“I’m Getting
Better at Falling in Love” is a happy
love song,” Lilly says. “It’s an
anomaly for me.”
It’s a tune destined to become some couple’s “our
song.” So lovey-dovey, but the humor of it all is still just within arm’s
reach.
Lilly invokes “Seinfeld”
character George Costanza to make a
point about where she’s coming from on this record, asking, “Do you know the
episode where George decides to do
the opposite of everything he usually does just to see what difference it makes
in his life? I could keep making mistakes, but they had to be new ones.
Musically and personally. Repetition is a sin.”
On the musical tip, Lilly says, “My recording mindset was very different than it had
been in the past. This time, the sounds are dialed in so well, but the feeling
is loose.”
To make this happen, on the recommendation of friend
and fellow musical risk-taker, John
Vanderslice, Lilly worked
extensively with engineer James Riotto
to create Repetition Is A Sin.
“We went deep into harnessing the sounds of old
oscillators and drum machines, and then syncing them up using an interface.
This was the kind of wizardry I was after!
“It sounded so good off the bat that it didn’t need to
be perfect, which is a pretty swift departure from my normal process.
Previously, I felt like I had been an actor in a movie, where I could rely more
on editing. Now, I was actor in a play, and had to commit to the emotional arc
of an entire take.”
Lilly’s movie vs. play analogy is about the best
description of this record yet. Unlike a film that you’ve already seen, each
listen to Repetition Is A Sin contains the tension of a unique
performance. It’s a cliffhanger!
Repetition Is A Sin, the second solo album by Alex Lilly, arrives October
21, 2022 via Release Me Records,
preceded by the single “Pure Drivel”
on September 2.
Contact Josh Bloom
at Fanatic for more information.
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Alex Lilly | Links
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : RELEASE ME RECORDS
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact
WEBSITE
: FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
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