No one seems to be a bigger fan of Eraserhood’s underground, slightly-creepy, gallery/lounge/cabaret, Underground Arts, than NYC’s Lily and the Parlour Tricks, who have graced its stage four times in the past year and a half… And I suspect Lily and the Parlour Tricks have few fans bigger than Philthy Mag (This is our third time profiling the band in the past year.)… And why wouldn’t we be? They have pretty girls, murder ballads, and the kind of harmonies that would make 1950s roughneck Drapes swoon like schoolgirls. The band’s most recent stop at UA was last Friday, providing the perfect soundtrack to a full moon. The band have a far better grasp on the notion of a “show” than most, with the calm, cool, and coy girls up front, playfully sassing the crowd (And, I have to say, their dance moves are looking better than ever.) and the boys in the back truly kicking out the jams. Their sound seamlessly blends a bizarre amalgamation of movements from swing, to the dirtiest blues, to 60s girl groups, and the dirtiest (in every way) Americana. In a recent interview, frontlady Lily Claire described it as, “The Andrews Sisters fronting T Rex, if Marc Bolan was co-writing with Tom Waits.”
The band’s most recent set in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection included tracks from their 2011 self-titled EP (including their hyper-jazzy “Poison Song” and their deceptively sonically sunny “Little Angel,” which easily could’ve been written by the Supremes) and a handful of new tracks. Highlights of these new tracks, which are possibly the band’s two best songs to-date, include “Made For Radio,” their most anthemic number yet (which actually sort of rings of the poppiest and most organic forms of Post-Punk and New Wave), which boasts the brilliant line, “She’s got a face made for radio” and “Sweetheart”… the heaviest and most sincerely somber getting-moved-on-from ballad I’ve heard in recent years (During which Ms. Claire seemed to actually move herself to tears.) For now these new songs are largely relegated to the live sets and YouTube clips, but I have done you the favor of including them below and Lily tells me that they will be heading into the studio in the near future to get you more “official” versions. She also tells me that this summer the band will be spending their weekends playing gigs in the mid-Atlantic, so I would highly recommend keeping your eyes out for a date near you.
[youtube http://youtu.be/y_DrEs9EIiI]
[youtube http://youtu.be/Qt7BEZNZ8eg]
