Dan Mangan | Support: Lily Lyons

HEAST! holt den kanadischen Singer-Songwriter und doppelten JUNO Awards-Gewinner (größter Musikpreis Kanadas) nach Graz. Der umtriebige Musiker ist aber auch gesellschaftlich hochaktiv, so hat er eine Community gegründet, die es möglich macht, anderen jeden freien Raum zur Konzert-Location freizugeben. Support übernimmt die junge Singer-Songwriterin Lily Lyons aus London. 

With the lines “Leave a light on when it’s bad / We will congregate and make a plan / We’ll be in your corner” Dan is replying to Hutchison’s question, “Will you come back to my corner? / Spent too long alone tonight”.

“We’d only met once but Scott’s passing eviscerated me. He was my age and very close with several dear friends of mine,” says Mangan, “Either he couldn’t see how deeply he was loved by the world, or he didn’t feel worthy of it. How come he could bring joy to so many people but not to himself? I remember weeping as I poured cereal for my boys that morning. This song came very quickly in the days that followed.”

Lily Lyons searches for truth in her music, exploring simple things that are easily forgotten – not revolutionary, but the everyday beauty and tragedy of relationships. Each track that Lily writes is a beautiful vignette capturing her experiences so far, with perceptive lyrics delivered in an elegant voice that could easily sit among the greats. Today, with a song built from gentle, lush acoustic layers, Lily makes a declaration and a promise to be the kind of person who doesn’t just appreciate when their loved ones are being great, but actively helps them see themselves that way too, on her debut single on Fiction records, “Spectre”.

Raised in South London, Lily started singing aged two – influenced by her big band-loving granddad – but it wasn’t until she left London to study music in Cornwall that she was encouraged to sing, a gift she had kept quiet for many years. Moving from bustling London to the tranquil English coast meant leaving the world she’d always known, filled with loving chaos and fast-paced characters. “Growing up, it sometimes felt like I was in a scene from the Meyerowitz Stories. Surrounded by the buzz of London and some pretty hectic friends and family, miscommunications and massive personalities were all I knew.” However, this space gave Lily room to reflect, and find power in learning how to command a room, changing up her live sets in a way that didn’t give her audience any choice but to stay quiet and listen.

As she started gigging, turning up to open mics and small shows multiple times a week, Lily became more in tune with the things she wanted to say in her songs. Using her songwriting to figure out who she is and how she wants to live her life, Lyons hopes that, in turn, her listeners will find the encouragement to “reflect on themselves and feel positive about tomorrow”.