Melanie De Biasio – Lilies (2017)

Fourth time around with Melanie De Biasio and her new album Lilies and you can be certain about one thing for sure - she’s a musician with a definite vision and she sticks to it. No ifs or buts.
Her 2007 debut A stomach Is Burning never really reached further than the borders of her native Belgium, but the sophomore release No Deal certainly reached the fans of all that has to do with avant-noir jazz-inflected music, including some prominent faces like Giles Peterson.

Then De Biasio came up with Blackened Cities, an elongated EP that contained a musical suite of practically industrial electronics. Some listeners that got drawn in by her subdued, gentle vocals were perhaps stunned, but she stuck to it and even played that suite as a part of her set at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam in 2016.

But De Biasio is back with Lilies and her version of late night jazz, film noir music and electronic embellishments, that can be situated anywhere between Nina Simone and Judy Nylon. If No Deal was considered a musical triumph for classical trained De Biasio, Lilies further ups the ante. What is even more striking is that Lilies is practically a home production which De Biasio did solely on her computer and using a single, cheap Share mike.

Again, she plays most of the instruments herself quite brilliantly, without burdening her music with unnecessary elements. As the album progresses, it becomes more and more evident that her composing skills are also developing, without deviating from her musical vision.

Whether it is the Nina Simone inflected title track with just De Biasio’s voice and piano and some indescribable, subtle background hum or the rhythmically pouncing “Let Me Love You”, using just a bass and drum thumping, De Biasio confirms all the superlatives she has garnered so far.

The standouts here are really hard to pick, but De Biasio’s version of “Afro Blue” actually gives new touches to the jazz standard, and “All My Worlds” is certainly one of the best tracks she has written so far.

What is most striking about Lilies though, is that throughout the album you get the feeling that Melanie De Biasio can come up with something even better, no matter how hard that might be.

1. Your Freedom Is The End Of Me 03:50

2. Gold Junkies 03:19

3. Lilies 04:02

4. Let Me Love You 04:08

5. Sitting In The Stairwell 02:49

6. Brother 03:11

7. Afro Blue 04:33

8. All My Worlds 06:40

9. And My Heart Goes On 06:00

As Melanie De Biasio explains in her own words; “For me, Lilies has a darkness, but it’s also luminous. After my experiences with (previous releases) 'No Deal' and 'Blackened Cities', I just wanted to retreat to a cave with my Pro-Tools, my computer, and my cheap, 100Euro Shure SM-58 microphone. I could have gone to a big studio, made a big production – but I wanted none of that. I wanted to go back to the seed of creativity, the simplest materials. I was in this room where there was no light, no night or day at all, no heat. Very uncomfortable. But I felt free. I was happy to have this feeling – ‘I don’t need more, I have everything I need here.’” 

Lilies resonates with beauty, multi-instrumentalist De Biasio casting a mesmerising shadow over the proceedings alongside her long-term ensemble of players and will undoubtedly once again see her further the acclaim of fans both in Europe and further afield. 

Lilies is released through Le Label / Play It Again Sam and will be available digitally, on CD and limited vinyl.