The Lilly & Harry show… recording BV’s
Evolution Studio, Fri 20th Sept 2019
It’s one of those days again, where you can’t wait to get to work.
More super-talented friends turning up today, each with their inimitable box of tricks. I say inimitable despite the fact that songstress Lily Dior would give Chaka Khan a run for her money & the firecracker that is Harry Osborne (from Hove band Someone Anyone) would have Jake Shears & Prince running for their throat pastilles.
These two can really, really sing really, really good. Plus, they are simply great people to hang out with.
Harry…
Their two approaches couldn’t be more different. I’m sure Harry wouldn’t mind me saying this, but he does usually need tying down with guy ropes & sedating, because all that frenetic mischievous energy of his is so infectious that you just want to monkey around & goof off together. He’s on the drums, he’s playing guitars, he’s dancing, clapping his hands, he’s got a million ideas, don’t give him caffeine FFS, it’d be like spilling water on a Gremlin.
That’s why he’s here though. I want that affable energy, the humour, the constant invention, because he’s our eponymous Wildcard & if the history of good music has taught us anything, well it’s that: You just gotta hava da Wildcard. I mean, what if you need it & you don’t got it? Watcha gonna do then?
That’s right, ain’t doin nuttin.
Lily Dior
Lily Dior is royalty, as far as I’m concerned. The Queen to Harry’s Joker. She’s humorous, good natured & relaxed. We met (OK this is getting repetitive now) at a Pro7ect Songwriting retreat, in Brighton. She’s an old mate of my Producer Lisa Fitz & they share an Antipodean past.
Ever since the great Clare Torry blew the bloody doors off, halfway through Dark Side of The Moon, I have wanted to work with a big voice... sorry, Big voice...sorry, I mean BIG VOICE! That’s better. In the middle eight of Down at The Crossroads we plan to unleash The Dior on the poor unsuspecting song. I want it to be that part of the song where the driving, square beat momentum reaches a compelling cathartic hiatus, then melts into ghosts. Yes, Lily will do that for us, I reckon… she knows the vocal booth like I know my larder.
Harry Osborne can really sing falsetto (I smoke way too much). In fact, in all probability, despite the fact that there are 3 outstanding female singers on the album, I’m gonna make a private bet with myself that he hits the highest note of any singer over the 2-week recording session.
Harry sings & adds that firecracker character & those inventive ideas to his allotted tracks. He whispers in unison with me on Shall We Begin & it’s going to work; I can feel it. He then sings just behind me, on the ghost section of Down at the Crossroads, like a cracking dry desert wind. The devil is in his detail.
On Stormy Sky, he hits some of those ridiculous notes I was telling you about. I hope they make the final cut. They are nuts!
Lily has just laid down pass after pass after pass. It’s not that she’s making mistakes. It’s just we want layers & layers of that schweeeet honey, all over our bread.
On Shall We Begin, she’s the Vampire Queen, on Stormy Sky she’s the Disco Queen & on Down at the Crossroads, well you’ll see… my note to her ,before she took to the vocal booth, was to wail her mortal fear into the void across the driving middle eight: “It’s sex & death, Lily,.. sex and death.”
“Ok, right, sex and death, got it.”
Do you think she got it? Yes, I think she did. Teenage boys & undertakers will be forever in her debt, from this day forth.