Lillimure
Lillimure
(Lillimure)

A jaunty “Wallflower” opens Lillimure’s self-titled debut. With its stop and go, floaty harmony vocals, slipping sly horn work, plus Sam Caldwell’s light tickling keys, the listener is brought headfirst into what turns out to be quite a dense jazz-pop release.

A picked acoustic, with subtle bass from Jason Robbins, lies under the lush harmony female voices on the second cut, “Oh California,” and the single issued into the world earlier this year, “WDYTM,” grooves just perfectly. I can see why this gem-of-a-tune with its horn interplay (the horn players here are Michael Gorlin, Changhun Park and Cameron Carrella playing sax, Carey Ozmun on trumpet and Conor Powers playing trombone) was picked as a kick-off commercial tune.

“Goodbye,” is the big ballad here. Again Sam Caldwell brings his magic, playing piano under Lillimure’s often slightly unintelligible warble. Ozmun’s trumpet adds just the right color.

We get a cool electric guitar groove with again some great layered vocals on a want-her-man-even-if-he-doesn’t-want-her “All I Want.” Henry Mermer provides just the perfect beat…pretty much as he does throughout these nine.

“Something,” ends the album. This is the other single that was released earlier in the year. It’s a mid-tempo groover, again mining that pop-jazz MOR vibe.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize the rest of the musicians here, as important to the sound and breadth of these tunes as Lilliumure herself, I feel. In addition to those named above; Dawson Abdurahman and Carter Pankow play guitar and the choir that is often heard consists of Charlotte Athinasidy, Samantha Miley, Abby Menocal, Amanda Montgomery, Greg Calidonna, Matthew Harmon, and Donavan Austin.