In Session with Lily and Madeleine

I guess you could say we double-booked the studio for our newest session. We've been working with some local students to give our Brooklyn home a little more flare, and in our newest session video their ongoing splashes of paint collide with delicate plumes of piano and the loveliest of voices, courtesy of sisterly duo, Lily and Madeleine.

A few years back the Indianapolis natives experienced the kind of unexpected break out only the internet can deliver, posting an acoustic song on Reddit and watching the play counter flip over faster than they ever expected. Watching the performance in our studio, it's easy to see/hear why. Lily and Madeleine have been gifted with "blood harmony"; their voices were born at home together, share familial characteristics, and lock in perfectly with one another, sounding rich and effortless in this captivating performance of three songs from their newest album, Keep It Together. While playing, our in-house artists, Reed Baylis and Kyle Deutscher, worked on a mural in the background, creating an entrancing audio-visual experience.

River is white It's tangled and dry
acoustic song that we wrote, you could say it went viral on Reddit because our neighbor posted it.
And it was very confusing, I didn't know what Reddit was.
That was a couple years ago when we were both in high school.
It did get a lot of exposure, I suppose, and that was really awesome because then we started to get some local buzz, and then Sufjan Stevens' label Asthmatic Kitty contacted us because they have an office in our hometown of Indianapolis, so that was really cool, and I don't think that we would've gotten their attention without that video getting so much exposure.
So, thank you Reddit.
...just like a key Like a key
Try to make the time go faster Don't know what it is you're after
Please don't rush
Every second, ever-changing Always on a record playing
It's too much
The rain falling hard and steady Don't stop until I'm ready
This is my hourglass Let me stay where I am
Seconds pass through my hand Thoughtlessly like the sand
And it's falling And it's falling
Passing cars and nameless faces Don't know what it is they're chasing
Leave me behind
I'm well aware that out my window There's so many places to go
But all in good time
The rain falling hard and steady Don't stop until I'm ready
This is my hourglass Let me stay where I am
Seconds pass through my hand Thoughtlessly like the sand
And it's falling And it's falling
And it's falling And it's falling
I'll turn it over when it runs out
I'll turn it over when...
Seconds pass through my hand Thoughtlessly like the sand
And it's falling And it's falling
And it's falling And I'm falling
- When'd you get those? - In September.
- In September.
- Jinx.
- She thinks it hurt, but I don't think it hurt.
- Well, Lily's a badass and I am not.
- No, that's not me.
I think yours took longer, because... - We've been singing and playing together for fun since we were really little.
Our mom is very musical and she taught us piano and to sing and whatnot.
So we've been doing that for a really long time.
But then when we were in middle school and high school, I did band.
I think Lily also did band.
- In middle school I did band.
- When we were younger, we used to play music together all the time, and then as we group up we created music seperately, and then we... We both knew that we loved to play and sing, so we decided to try out doing it together with guitars and harmonies, just figure stuff out on our own.
And then we somehow made a career out of it, and here we are.
Yeah, our new record is called 'Keep It Together' and that title comes from a lyric off of the first track, which is one of my favorite tracks on the album, actually.
This record, we wrote kind of in a new, different way.
We split up and wrote seperately and then came together to edit at the end.
Then we arranged all the songs with our friends Shannon Hayden and Kate Siefker, who are just amazing musicians out of Bloomington, Indiana and Illinois.
With the four of us ladies in the studio, the album kind of became more of a band record, you could say.
So that means that all of the songs were very cohesive.
So when we tour them, they're gonna be really tight and similar to the record.
- Yeah, the best thing about it is that we're touring with the same band that we had in the studio so everything's gonna sound as similar as we can make it.
Hot and heavy is the night you suprised me in the city
I swear my heart melts when you tell me I look pretty
You hold my hand, I close my eyes
And swaying with the pines I know that you are mine
Windy City lights Are all I see tonight
And I'm blinded
It's been a while and I admit I've been longing for you lately
It locks me up a little bit Even if it's temporary
I see the moon inside your eyes And it feels just like before
I'm still yours
Windy City lights Are all I see tonight
And I'm blinded
Like the speeding cars My head and my heart
Collided
Chicago (You said we'd run away)
Hot and heavy
I wanna know (But where? I do not know)
Where this is heading
Chicago (You said you had a plan)
Hot and heavy How far will this go?
Windy City lights Are all I see tonight
And I'm blinded
Like the speeding cars My head and my heart
Collided
Windy City lights Are all I see tonight
And I'm blinded
Like the speeding cars My head and my heart
Collided
- And Chicago, that's one that I wrote, and it's kind of weird, because... I don't know if I should say this, but I'm gonna say it. Is... I wrote the song...when I started writing the song, I was dating this guy, and then we broke up in like the middle of creating the record.
So now I have this love song to this guy that I'm not with.
And like I don't know how that... what that means, or, yeah I don't know.
- Well it also just could mean...it could be for friend or something.
- Yeah, but it's like special to me in that way and makes me feel... I don't know it gives another dimension to the song, because it adds this layer of almost like unfinished business.
- Does he know about it? - No.
And I hope he doesn't watch this.
- Well it feels really good to write a song in order to cap up an experience that I've just had.
I feel like I can't write a song unless I live first, so... - And you're trying to look back on the experience? - Yeah, so like a lot of artists write on tour and stuff like that, but I can't really do that, I like to write afterwards.
- I agree.
- But I also can't write before because nothing has like happened yet.
- A lot of times when I'm writing, I'll just add like filler words, if I like a melody I'll just like start singing something random and then I realize like "Wait a second, this actually kind of makes sense.
This is something that I've been feeling and I didn't really realize it.
" But yeah, I don't know, it helps to kind of explain situations in our life in a way that's a little mysterious.
Like if we write about a friend of ours or something, he or she may never know what the song is truly about, but it's helpful to just kind of get it out there.
- Yeah.
Your words so smooth, soft as velvet wrapped around me
And I believed they were true
Everything about you made me crazy
All I wanted was your approval And it wasn't easy
You know the way to my heart better than I know myself
And losing you would be harder Than anything else
So I'll keep giving you all my time What else can I do
Because without you I'm nothing
Packed a bag took a bus up to see you
Early Sunday morning
When I arrived, there you were holding flowers for a girl
Who wasn't me
Your words, so smooth crush like velvet as you told me
It was over
You never loved me
You knew the way to my heart better than I knew myself
And losing you to her was harder Than anything else
Since you left, I now know better and I finally see what you are to me
You're nothing
You're nothing

Lily & Madeleine are an American folk pop duo from Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which consists of sisters Lily Jurkiewicz and Madeleine Jurkiewicz. They have released two full-length albums, Lily & Madeleine (2013)[1][2][3][4][5][6] and Fumes (2014) on Asthmatic Kitty.

[Via Wikipedia]