Released 27/4/09, Elsewhere Factory,
When two people create a special tribute show for a certain David Lynch, you might find that a little odd. When the same two people form a band and make an album, you might go two ways: intrigued, or scared. Lilies On Mars have constructed a self-titled album which somehow does both. Intrigued? Scared? Good. Read on.
Let’s make one thing clear from the off – if you are the type of person who listens to Kiss 100 and watches TMF, chances are you won’t like this at all. Fortunately, all you Gobshouters seem to be an educated bunch with broad musical tastes, so I will continue. Lilies From Mars are two Italian women living in London, Lisa Dply Masia and Marina Cristofalo. As weird and wonderful a place as London is, you feel like it’s nowhere near to being the place that they should really be living. There’s a feeling that they have been snatched from one of Jupiter’s moons, or they were the first humans on Cybertron. What this album is, is a soundtrack to a science fiction film that hasn’t been made yet. It’s an album that on first listen leaves you with a ‘What the fuck was that?!’ reaction, yet yearns for further investigation. It’s an album that can at times be startlingly beautiful, and at others can be hauntingly terrifying.
Opening track Maori Legend begins Nine Inch Nails, before breaking into dream-like folk guitar, with a reading over the top of by actress Donatella Finocchiaro from a book by an Italian philosopher. I don’t know any Italian, but it sounds interesting at the very least. Passing By has an attention-grabbing fascination about it, with beautiful harmonies one moment, and then distorted vocals the next, on top of an industrial score. My Liver Hurts is one of the singles off this album, though you feel that the singles would be lost on their own, and it’s possibly the most accessible track, beginning as a simple, hushed lullaby of sorts, before the guitars come in and take it to a more spectral plane. Honourable Horrible Friend is like a nightmare, like Village Of The Damned in song form. It’s genuinely creepy. No U Turn is thankfully more peaceful. It becomes a three act song, the first tender and placid, the middle like dancing in space, and the finale like pixies on crack.
It’s surprising how involved this album is, with so many different things happening at once, but it never seems too much. Insane is somehow a simple effort, but still enchanting. It’s what you might imagine your last song to be if you were lost in the desert, hallucinating and dying of thirst. Hey, What’s Wrong? Wake up! is like a ray of sunshine compared to the rest, with its simple and joyful vocal delivery. It’s quite the shot in the arm. Electric Fits seems to be almost a straightforward indie rock ballad, and it’s probably their most ‘normal’ song. But then who wants to make normal songs anyway?
Et Voila is another folky effort, its uncomplicated style makes it seem like more of a loose jam session than an actual song, but it again maintains a certain allure. Final track x2 is a dream-folk trip. Overall, while some albums can have great songs, some just don’t have a feel to them. But this one does. It may not change your life after hearing it, but it could well affect your thinking for a few days. If you think a lot of bands sound the same, and you would like to listen to something different, then seek this out. Just don’t listen to it with the lights off.
Posted In Album Reviews, Apr 24 2009.
Words - Paul