When the teen-aged sister duo of Lily & Madeleine released their five-track EP, The Weight Of The Globe at the beginning of 2013, they never expected to be expressed in such ways that critics rushed to do. Each of the songs were lyrically beyond the years of the girls showcasing a wisdom that usually comes with age. Those songs were buoyed by equally impressive music that made the EP a genuine pleasure to enjoy, start to finish.
On October 29, Asthmatic Kitty, an independent label run by musician Sufjan Stevens to issue his own music on, released the duo’s first full-length album, complete with twelve new songs. What was wondered was whether the girls could replicate the aching beauty of their EP. It only takes a single pass through the album to realize that not only have they succeeded with exquisitely crafted songs, they even eclipsed the promise that the EP hinted at.
The album contains the pre-release song, “Devil We Know”, that embraces all of the promise that The Weight Of The Globe provided. That song delivers with heady thoughts using the metaphor of the rage of April to create anew. Our lives are the same. It positions after the album’s beautiful and perfect opener, “Sounds Like Somewhere”.
Deeper into the album, “Come To Me” is a haunting classic of a tune that hopes for a reunion of displaced love at any cost. It stays deeply embedded within you long after you hear it once. But with nine other expressive songs that explore the world around us, the lives that we inhabit, and the loves we engage in, the self-titled classic that is Lily & Madeleine is a superior album of song-craft ready to put your fears of follow-up at ease. Other songs like “Lost Upon the Sea”, the sweetness of “Spirited Away”, and the heart-tugging, “And Tonight” all help to make this album an easy contender for Album Of The Year. Grammy would be foolish not to take notice.
I anxiously await anything that these girls can create. They have already crossed over into classic territory, with music that possesses the ability to live forever, timeless in their presentation. Like a great Joni Mitchell song.
Girls, you don’t have to wait for someday to “…find the right words”, You have them well in hand!
“I kept all your secrets, I keep everything.”
Release Date: October 29, 2013
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Website
Availability: CD, DD, LP
–Matt Rowe