On one level, The Lilys?Philadelphia-based mavericks who want to be enigmatic so much that they keep telling us they are?are just another group of American alt.rockers, running through the early Pavement songbook with a suitably perverse aversion to conventional structures. Yet as they improve their skills (often a death knell), they become increasingly intriguing. Kurt Heasley now crafts ideas which transcend their influences, and if you catch a glimpse of everyone from The Cure to The Fall in their esoteric meanderings, there’s also a compelling and unique personality, most evident on “Will My Lord Be Gardening?” or “Mystery School Assembly”. They’ve beef (heart) ed up.
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