Lilith Lane’s ‘Pilgrim’ On French Vinyl

Lilith Lane is launching the French import vinyl of her third solo album Pilgrim on Friday the 24th at The Tote. After her, well – her pilgrimage, to Europe to tour the late 2013 release, Lane is bringing the record back to her hometown. We’re not just being glib – Lane’s music has been forged in her experiences overseas.

For the uninitiated: Lane is a vocalist, songwriter, instrumentalist, soul vortex and desert monolith. This year, she’s also a portal to a world populated by contemplative characters that find time to be love drunk when they’re not remembering the Alamo. That is to say that Pilgrim is an evolution.

Lane’s earlier albums have a stronger pop sensibility, often featuring piano, soulful lead vocals, choral backups and measured percussion. Pilgrim sees her move seamlessly into the spaghetti blues paradigm without losing any soul – pulling together all sorts roots/world/alt-country/garage influences. She accomplishes this by playing off the four piece without being afraid to let the lead guitar pull focus on occasion. The breadth of the album is captured well in the track ‘Sun Set Fire’ – video sufficiently replete with Pilbara atmosphere:

The album feels cohesive. It feels like a harmonic gunfight in a dust storm. I hear you asking, wait – how do guns harmonise with each other? Listen to the album. We can’t do all the work. It’s got emotive, smooth vocals, fuzzy blues leads, atmospheric acoustics, powerful tremolo stings, a melodic low end, occasional organ and driving percussion. What else do you need? Fine. It was recorded in Madrid, too.

The CD’s available now in independent retailers around Australia or through Lane’s Bandcamp page. You can grab the Pilgrim vinyl (Beast Records France) in stores from the 27th of October. It’s the format this bluesy record deserves. I mean, French vinyl, c’mon. If you don’t own any French vinyl, you can take this as an opportunity to double your musical authenticity.

To ring in the Australian arrival of Pilgrim on wax, Lane is headlining a launch gig at The Tote in Collingwood on Friday, the 24th of October. She’s onstage at 11:30, following a host of supports that all complement the sound of Pilgrim well.

Before Lane and her band, you can see The Midnight Scavengers open the bill at 9:00 – a conventional four piece that produce some pretty unconventional “spooky rock” [sic] (sick). At 9:50, you can see Richie 1250 & The Brides of Christ wind traditional rock and roll through a meat grinder built of broken sax and Vox organ parts and somehow have it be better for the journey. Following them at 10:40 is Stella Angelico‘s R&B, soul and blues influenced uniquely indomitable voice. See you there.

Lilith Lane’s ‘Pilgrim’ French Vinyl Launch
The Tote, 61-71 Johnston St, Collingwood
Friday October 24, doors at 8:30, Lilith & band onstage at 11:30
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