Lilys - Live at The Echo (Los Angeles, 1/23/22)

Lilys are an immensely influential indie band from the 90’s, pioneers in the US Shoegaze scene with incredible records such as ‘In the Presence of Nothing’ and ‘Eccsame the Photon Band’, not to mention the wonderful tracks off their split with Aspera Ad Astra; UK Shoegaze god Kevin Shields himself cites this band as a favorite, and their ‘gaze and Indie work alike created massive ripples of inspiration that can still be felt today in many local scenes along the West Coast and beyond. The only consistent member is founder, singer and songwriter Kurt Heasley, being supported on this tour by James Richardson of MGMT on guitar; Evan Weiss of Girls and Sparks on bass; Matty McDermott of Nymph on pedal steel; Don DeVore of Collapsing Scenery on synthesizer and guitars; and longtime collaborator Alex Craig on guitar.

The tour this was the last stop on got announced out of the blue and I happened upon an article for it online ENTIRELY by chance, so I had to go and capture this rare moment for people who would have otherwise never had the chance. There’s apparently a new record on the way as well according to Heasley himself, so that should be nuts after the last thing Lilys released was back in 2006 (‘Everything Wrong is Imaginary’). I really hope you enjoy it as much as my friends and I did that night!

This tour essentially paid tribute to the ‘90-‘95 material, so basically most of the songs contained on the track collection ‘A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns’ if you want a rough idea of when a great deal of these tracks come from.