Eccsame The Photon Band
from Alternative Press, May 1995

Although the Lilys garner their fair share of My Bloody Valentine comparisons, singer Kurt Heasley's knack for juxtaposing distortion with hooks and echoey '60s harmonies and melodies has always seemed more like the Jesus and Mary Chain. So if the noisy debut In The Presence of Nothing was the bands Pychocandy, and last summer's gauzy Brief History of Amazing Letdowns was their Darklands, the Lilys' second full-length skips to somewhere between Honey's Dead and Stoned and Dethroned. Eccsame The Photon Band doesn't sound at all like the same band that helped change the face of indie rock with their Slumberland singles just a few years ago. There are plenty of reasons for that. Heasley's wanderlust means he's based in new cities every few months and with alomost 20 members in four years, the Lilys line-up resembles a game of musical chairs.

AP rightly tagged In The Presence of Nothing one of the best debuts of the 90's. This second full-length is every bit as brillient, even if it's an almost radical reinvention. It's a softer sound, with less of that guitar firewall amd more multitracked glimmering and synthesized shimmering. But it's every bit as challenging, and often, every bit as noisy. "High Writer At Home" builds from a serene swoop into chaos with absolute majesty. "Day of the Monkey" and "FBI and Their Toronto Transmitters" glide gracefully without the noise. And Heasley's never written more perfect, purer pop that "Hubble, "Kodiak" and "Radiotricity." On the last EP, the Lilys avoided an amazing letdown by keeping their songs and audio experiments seperate (remember the self-indulgent "Evel Knievel"?). On Eccsame The Photon Band, they've successfully integrated their pop and experimental sides for the first time. (SpinArt, POB 1798, New York, NY 10156)-David Daley

HOME | NEWS | DISCOGRAPHY | PRESS | FAQ | LYRICS | IMAGES | GUITAR TAB | SOUND | MISC | LINKS

 

 

 

1