We suppose all the recent activity should have been enough of a clue that the proverbial gears are purposefully turning in the camp of legendary indie rock act Lilys, but even so the scope of the information brought to light by an interview published by Chickfactor yesterday is breathtaking. Indeed, we don't know which exciting information to lead with: that mastermind Kurt Heasley is resolved to substantially increase the number of all-too-rare live performances; that a new release is almost a certainty (although it may or may not be released under the moniker Lilys); that there are definite (but not yet finalized) plans to reissue three Lilys records over the next year-and-a-half.
While all of the above has felt inevitable for some time, in some ways it almost seems too good to be true. "I do see playing live a lot more over the next few years," Heasley tells Chickfactor. He says he loves playing the mod-ish, Monkees-influenced music of his mid-period releases Better Can't Make Your Life Better and Services For The Soon To Be Departed, and that he hopes to find the right line-up in order to perform some of that music live, in order to "materializ[e] the mythology."
With regards to the reissues of old recordings, Heasley confirms what has long been thought, that he intends to reissue Lilys' legendary, 1991 full-length debut In The Presence Of Nothing. Heasley states that not only does he hope to reissue that album (and hopefully the related b-sides? and some rarities? please!), but also two others. We assume, but do not know for certain that, these two others must be the towering EP A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns and the mind-blowing LP Eccsame The Photon Band, which were released by the now-long-defunct Spin-Art Records. We had been told years ago by someone that the dissolution of Spin-Art had thrown the rights to those latter two recordings into a black hole, although that might have been speculative chatter. Nevertheless, and whatever they may be, three reissues are hopefully a dead certainty. "I am currently negotiating the reissues of 3 records over the next year and a half with Mike Schulman of Slumberland Records. He just sent me some old DAT recordings today that I am looking forward to hearing. We've also talked about recording a new project."
Wait, what was that last thing? We've been aware that Heasley has been steadily working on new music and recording, but in the interview he confirms that and notes his recent work with Nighttime Gallagher (a/k/a former Apollo Sunshine guy Jesse Gallagher), who also abets the present live iteration of Lilys. Heasley's new ideas sound tantalizingly massive, and they may be the most exciting of all of the news broken by Chickfactor. Calling the new music "solar pop," Heasley states, "Whatever it is, it's not just about the music anymore, music is visual and physical, it's a whole show and I have a lot of ideas for the next project that include a big multi-media environment." Amazing.
Lilys played a fairly surprise, barely announced show Sunday night in Cambridge, Mass., in preparation for a performance this coming Thursday at Chickfactor 22 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. According to the Chickfactor site, Lilys are expected to perform some new songs, which like WOAH. As of press time, passes for the show (actually both nights of the two-night event) were still available. Stream some Lilys music below, and get excited for all that is to come. And, hey, did you know we curated this awesome Lilys tribute comp featuring songs recorded by Speedy Ortiz, Lubec, Arc In Round, White Laces, Infinity Girl, Soccer Mom, Cuffs and many more? Cause we did. My, that was a time.
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