Recordings
Moonlight
Single Reviews (Released on Zeff Music 2012)
MUSIC RIOT
OK, I’ll start with the facts. “Moonlight” is the second single from
the upcoming debut Lilygun album and it’s out this week. The band,
fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Anna-Christina, has been building
up a loyal following on the London live circuit and it sounds like
they’re ready to reach a wider audience. It’s not easy to categorise
Lilygun; there are a lot of diverse elements in the mix and they don’t
really fit easily into any scene, so I’ll just try to tell you a bit
about the song. “Moonlight” opens with clinically clean guitar arpeggios
followed by equally shiny single overlaid guitar notes, then a breathy,
ethereal vocal. From here onwards, the verse builds steadily towards
a chorus underpinned by the dirtiest, most distorted guitar sound
this side of Swedish death metal; and then back to the clean sound
again for the next verse. It would be easy to fall into goth-by-numbers
territory with this formula; the difference here is that it’s a great
song and a very powerful vocal performance from Anna-Christina. The
song goes through another couple of cycles (echoing the cycles of
the moon?) before winding down with a smattering of picked guitar
notes reverberating into the distance. As a single, “Moonlight” works;
it’s dynamic and melodic and when it’s over you want to hear it again.
As a taster for the album, again, it works perfectly. After hearing
this, I can’t wait to hear the album and the live shows are looking
like a pretty good bet as well. And if you don’t want to take my word
for it, you can watch and listen for yourself here “Moonlight” and
find out more about the band here Lilygun. Enjoy.
[Allan McKay 2012]
PENNYBLACKMUSIC
Lilygun almost didn’t happen. Their singer and guitarist Anna-Christina
had a brain haemorrhage at the tail end of 2005, and was lucky to
survive. At one point she was told she would be unable to make music
again. Thankfully Anna-Christina, however, made a full recovery, and
first formed Lilygun as far back as 2007. Since then the London-based
hard rock band has had several false starts, releasing two singles
and an EP, but being hampered by personnel problems and changes. While
the position of bass player remains a revolving door, Lilygun’s line-up
has now stabilised to include Belle, who has held the position of
drummer and percussionist since 2008, and lead guitarist James Ford
who joined the group last year. The group’s first single in their
new line-up, ‘Scum’, which came out in January, showed off a band
of astonishing vitality. ‘Scum’, in which the operatic-voiced Anna-Christina
cajoled a ground down friend not to give up on himself (“There is
no need to be a victim of negativity”), adopted the “quiet/loud” sound
beloved of so many noisy guitar bands. The loud parts, all grinding
guitars and thunderous vocals, proved that here was a band that could
rock hard with the best of them. It was, however, the quieter parts
that were in many ways more interesting. They revealed that here also
was a group of real subtlety, featuring strong interplay between Anna-Christina
and Ford, and closing with a gorgeous long fade-out in which their
guitars softly, seductively spiralled around each other. With an album
promised for later that year, ‘Moonlight’, the line-up’s second single,
builds on that subtlety. At over five minutes long, a minute longer
than ‘Scum’, it is slower to build up towards a crescendo. “Don’t
pretend that you don’t see the difference/Don’t pretend that you don’t
notice,” Anna-Christina drawls dreamily, maybe looking back at the
Lilygun of then and the Lilygun of now, Meanwhile we get more of those
stunning guitar effects, alluringly echoing and shimmering ever upwards.
Lilygun have with this second single in this line-up released one
of the most beautiful-sounding singles of the year. [John
Clarkson 2012]
BEAROCKR.IN
Having released their second single called 'Moonlight', the band is
working on releasing their debut EP later this year itself! Listening
to the song, it begins with a soothing plucking intro backed by some
really pleasant vocals that sets your mood right in the 'midnight'
mode where you put on your headphones and raise the volume by a leap
to get immersed in the track completely. The song then progresses
to a hard, heavy-distorted tone that somewhere reminded me of Lacuna
Coil too for a while. Anna's vocals in the chorus are fabulous and
well synchronised with the rhythm and percussions, though I'm a bit
not used to a very heavy distortion, but James did a good job with
it. The last part of the track got the perfect ending with some nice,
enchanting guitar harmonics that I was expecting as well. Summing
up, the track is sure true to its title, 'Moonlight', with commendable
vocals, and a good, consistent rhythm, and the atmosphere they are
able to create via their music, which was the best part for me indeed!
Just wait until they get their album out later this year guys, I'm
personally curious enough to see what more Lilygun has in store for
us! [BeArockr.in 2012]
ROCK REVIEWS 24/1
Following the release of their last single, Scum, Lilygun are back
with their brand new single called Moonlight. Just like Scum, Moonlight
packs big choruses with a melodic background to acquire a fantastic
sound. Vocalist Anna-Christina’s voice is almost operatic and she
is pitch perfect – while Moonlight may not have the same bark as Scum,
it certainly does the job in packing a bit of a punch. While Scum
dominates Moonlight, both tracks are merely just a taster of Lilygun’s
forthcoming debut record which will be released sometime this year
and will surely make for an interesting listen. For fans of Melissa
auf der Maur. [Michael Heming 2012]
RAVENHEART
The single 'Moonlight' is an amazing song with enormous cross over
potential that screams mainstream radio airplay. A great slow to mid
paced rock song - good stuff! For anybody that likes their rock very
commercial and accessible, this could be right up your alleyway. I
am eager to hear more! [Dave 2012]
Scum Single Reviews
(Released on Zeff Music 2012)
MUDKISS
Though leaning heavily on familiar hard rock precepts, Lilygun infuses
it with their own gentle subtlety, atmospheric intros, breaks and
minimalistic but inveigling instrumental touches which inject highly
appealing individuality, lifting this from pastiche, inviting further
exploration. [Chumki 2012]
ALTERNATIVE VISION
it has some good instrumental work with Belle’s drumming standing
out the most whilst the vocals from Anne-Christina are strong and
nice sounding. [Trigger 2012]
ROOMTHIRTEEN.COM
Not So Scummy. We first come across Lilygun back in 2008 and thought
at the time that, although maybe a little rough around the edges,
they had something about them that made us sit up and listen. Fast
forward 4 years and this London band have matured; their sound is
more polished thanks to a lot of hard work and they now seem ready
to break the chains holding them back and take on the world. Scum
is the first single to be released from their debut album due out
later this year and from this example it is going to be one fine album.
Anna-Christina's vocals combine beautifully between the haunting eerie
verses and the powerful rockier chorus. The guitars play their part
too in adding to that haunting feel before finally being let lose.
The outro keeps the same vibe as the verses and is a bit longer than
expected but full credit to Lilygun for doing it that way, it would
have been so easy to follow the over used formula of ending it quicker
or on a high but they have stuck to their guns and made it work from
start to finish. [Neil Richardson
2012]
ROCK REVIEWS 24/7
London rockers Lilygun are releasing their brand new single “Scum”
later this month. But before they unleash it into the big wide world,
Rock Reviews 24/7 has had a listen and can confirm: it’s great! Yep,
Scum is a fine piece of music indeed. A stand out lyric is Don’t let
the scum kill you, don’t let ‘em get you down. Why? Well, for those
who live in London where Lilygun hail from, you’ll realise it’s full
of scum. Probably not what songwriter Anna-Christina meant, but it
still works nonetheless. But on a much more global scale as well as
a local one! So if you want your rock music with sincerity and passion,
then look no further than Scum. Taking inspiration from grunge bands
but with a whole new twist, Lilygun are doing things their way and
the scum aren’t getting them down! [Michael
Heming 2012]
RAVENHEART MUSIC
The single 'Scum' may suggest some hardcore/punk track however, but
that cannot be further from the truth. This is actually a very good
and rather commercial slow to mid paced rock track, that picks up
the pace in the chorus before slowing it down in the verse. If this
style of music is what Anna-Christina has adopted, then she and her
band could well be going places and deserve too aswell. 'Scum' gets
released end of January and will be worth checking out. [Dave
Smith 2012]
EP Reviews (Released
2010)
UBER ROCK
Recorded at Britannia Row Studios, there is an element of the "psych"
in here that said studio made famous through Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'.
However, this EP produces a much more grunge-dominated sound. [Craggy
2010]
Read
the full review here
SOUNDSPHERE MAGAZINE
Anna-Christina, the main singer, guitarist and principal song writer,
has a revolving door of musicians to help her create her blend of
post goth and rock. A notable player in the current ensemble, is the
legendary session drummer Robin Guy who has worked with bands like
Rachel Stamp, Antiproduct and Faith No More. After some high profile
support slots at some of the top underground venues, they have released
this EP comprised of three songs: 'Conversations', 'My Ways' and 'Peace
Of Mind' (two of which have already been released as singles). The
individual components that make up each song are solid and tight.
[Rez Collingwood 2010]
Conversations Single
Reviews (Released 2009)
SUBBA CULTURE
I really like the verses on this single, with vocals from the Shirley
Manson school of singing and some fine rhythmic riffing, the choruses
are pretty powerful too – with hints of rock, goth & funk
packing a meaty punch sonically… [Feb
2010]
DEVOLUTION MAGAZINE
Lilygun's sound retains a kind of dreary and sombre elements with
grunge-like guitars and down tempo beats. The whole track reeks of
a kind of self-made sound that is tremendously organic and this lends
itself well to the form of this bands music. The sound is deeply alternative
and sombre and because of this it has a Goth feel to it, but the grunge
influences of the likes of Smashing Pumpkins are probably a more fitting
assessment. [Sarah Angell Jan 2010]
Read the full review here
ROOMTHIRTEEN
Lilygun release their second single ‘Conversations’ following
up the highly impressive debut ‘Diamonds’ with yet more
imaginative, intelligent rocking music. The variation of styles on
the latest release just makes it a joy to listen to and at just under
five minutes long, you are still begging for more.
[Neil Richardson Sept 2009]
Read
the full review here
Diamonds Single Reviews (Released 2008)
CHURCH OF GIRL
The new track is a masterpiece and on first listen, plays out like
a rock opera short feature. They have developed a sound that will
appeal to a wide variety of listeners (Tool - PJ Harvey). We love
Lilygun's glamorous grunge-metal style and can't wait for more from
these amazing and edgy artists.
[Mary Ann Naylor 2008]
Read
the full review here
ROOMTHIRTEEN
Anna-Christina shows of her vocal prowess through out the song from
the slow starting then building up to the heavier chorus. Intelligent,
thoughtful lyrics do help to make this become a nice song to listen
to you when you are in the need for a bit of mood swinging indie takes
on grunge metal music. Sounds like Lilygun could easily make a name
for themselves and not just in the capital. [Neil
Richardson June 2008]
Read
the full review here
ROCK MIDGETS.COM
While originality is admittedly hard to come by these days, unsigned
London outfit Lilygun have no such problems. 'Diamonds' is five minutes
of densely layered heavy rock that succeeds in breaking free from
the pack without lapsing into indulgent territory. [Mitch
Bain June 2008]
XTASTER
With the rock scene a little bare at the moment, and the two extremes
of alternative indie and metal seeming to dominate the live scene,
its rare to find some good old rock, particularly female fronted.
But here we are; from London emerges pure alternative rock band Lilygun
with debut single “Diamonds” - a haunting and atmospheric
track with tinny drums and subtle guitar building suspense on the
intro. The sound builds, complemented by some cool lyrics “Don’t
let your past decide who you are to be” ending in a final dramatic
crescendo of a chorus with a striking reeling ethnic guitar riff and
a satisfyingly weighty distorted guitar bit.
[Sarah Rayner July 2008]
STICK NEWS INTERNATIONAL
Indie meets Grunge complete with powerful vocals makes Diamonds sparkle.
[ 2008]
SUBBA CULTURE
Grunge-melancholy with some nice harmonies, perfect for those who
paint their bedrooms black! [Chris
Merriman 2008]
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