Hey, we got another premiere! Guess we're moving up in the world. Anyway...
Lily Lambert is from England, originally, and, at the moment, she's writing and recording in an Americana/Indie Folk oeuvre. She's a Law School grad (with Honors, no less), which is always impressive. I don't have any independent insight into Lily's motivations for going to Law School, but we are seeing a bit more of that these days as artists are wiser than they used to be and want to have the knowledge to protect themselves from the sharks in the business. And the music business has plenty of sharks. From Law School, Lily moved on to musical theater in New York, New York. Again, speculating, I'm guessing that was to pay the bills, though I'm sure the experience was valuable in itself. But she spent whatever free time she had (backstage, in the dressing room, during rehearsals) writing and working on her own music.
Lily has released two albums, to date, "Life Of Lily" (which won the IMEA award for Folk Album of The Year) and "So Far" (which won some awards of its own--Akademia's Best Singer-Songwriter album and a Bronze Medal at the Global Music Awards). Her Christmas EP, "Merry Christmas, With Love" is officially releasing today. And you can get it from iTunes and Amazon.
Lily Lambert is from England, originally, and, at the moment, she's writing and recording in an Americana/Indie Folk oeuvre. She's a Law School grad (with Honors, no less), which is always impressive. I don't have any independent insight into Lily's motivations for going to Law School, but we are seeing a bit more of that these days as artists are wiser than they used to be and want to have the knowledge to protect themselves from the sharks in the business. And the music business has plenty of sharks. From Law School, Lily moved on to musical theater in New York, New York. Again, speculating, I'm guessing that was to pay the bills, though I'm sure the experience was valuable in itself. But she spent whatever free time she had (backstage, in the dressing room, during rehearsals) writing and working on her own music.
Lily has released two albums, to date, "Life Of Lily" (which won the IMEA award for Folk Album of The Year) and "So Far" (which won some awards of its own--Akademia's Best Singer-Songwriter album and a Bronze Medal at the Global Music Awards). Her Christmas EP, "Merry Christmas, With Love" is officially releasing today. And you can get it from iTunes and Amazon.
As it happens, "Carol Of The Bells" is my favorite track from Lily's Christmas EP ("Feliz Navidad" being a close second). "Carol Of The Bells", for my money, has the most original arrangement. It brings in Classical, New Age/Ambient, Indie and Jazz elements. The opening bass line is cool--especially mixing with the Classical elements--and I'd love to hear what she could do if she went on a full-on Jazz tangent with the song. "Feliz Navidad" is done in a ballad tempo and she even gives the song a few new lyrics (which it desperately needs, by the way, since it's really just three lines as written). The remaining songs on the set remain pretty faithful to their roots, but dressed in rural garlands rather than big city tinsel. It takes guts to open a Christmas record with "Silent Night", generally viewed as a closing number. And "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" sounds comfortably at home on the range.
I do have one issue with "Merry Christmas, With Love". If you listen to Lily's non-holiday records (which you really really should), you can hear that she is proficient in many genres--not just Americana. At least partially because of that, she's first and foremost identified as a singer/songwriter. That's her greatest strength among many; Lily writes great songs and sings them even greater. I mean, honestly, check out her other two albums (you can stream quite a few of her songs on ReverbNation). Her original songs are fantastic! And when her words meet her voice, it's magic. This Christmas EP just doesn't feel complete without an original Lily Lambert song. Not to me, anyway.
In fairness, there are lots of considerations that go into making any record. And those are Lily's decisions to make, not mine. And it can be a tiny bit intimidating if you think of it in terms of going toe-to-toe with "White Christmas". Just don't think of it like that. Just write something from your heart and it'll stand on its own. That's what you've been doing, after all, and those two albums are wonderful. Just sayin'.
Lily's still at the beginning stages of her career and I'm sure that, one day, she'll pen an original Christmas song (and it'll be great, I have no doubt) or several. Until then, we'll just have to make do with "Merry Christmas, With Love", which will make waiting for a Lily Lambert Christmas original merely a happy intermission.
I do have one issue with "Merry Christmas, With Love". If you listen to Lily's non-holiday records (which you really really should), you can hear that she is proficient in many genres--not just Americana. At least partially because of that, she's first and foremost identified as a singer/songwriter. That's her greatest strength among many; Lily writes great songs and sings them even greater. I mean, honestly, check out her other two albums (you can stream quite a few of her songs on ReverbNation). Her original songs are fantastic! And when her words meet her voice, it's magic. This Christmas EP just doesn't feel complete without an original Lily Lambert song. Not to me, anyway.
In fairness, there are lots of considerations that go into making any record. And those are Lily's decisions to make, not mine. And it can be a tiny bit intimidating if you think of it in terms of going toe-to-toe with "White Christmas". Just don't think of it like that. Just write something from your heart and it'll stand on its own. That's what you've been doing, after all, and those two albums are wonderful. Just sayin'.
Lily's still at the beginning stages of her career and I'm sure that, one day, she'll pen an original Christmas song (and it'll be great, I have no doubt) or several. Until then, we'll just have to make do with "Merry Christmas, With Love", which will make waiting for a Lily Lambert Christmas original merely a happy intermission.
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1. Silent Night 2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 3. O Holy Night 4. When A Child Is Born 5. Carol Of The Bells 6. Feliz Navidad LILY LAMBERT WEB SITE LILY LAMBERT on FACEBOOK LILY on REVERBNATION PURCHASE FROM iTUNES PURCHASE FROM AMAZON |
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