lilo

lilo are today announcing that their debut album, ‘Blood Ties’, is getting an exclusive vinyl pressing as a Dinked Edition available through independent record stores across the UK, find your copy here. Alongside this news they are sharing the latest track to be lifted from the record, ‘Nevada’, which you can listen to here. ‘Blood Ties’ is out on 28 March via Dalliance Recordings and the band are heading out on a UK tour to celebrate, including a hometown show at the The Railway Inn in Winchester on 3 April and culminating at the George Tavern in London on 10 April. 

Christie says of the track: “Nevada was a song I wrote when I was angry, which might be slightly hard to believe. The song came after a break up I had, where I thought everything was going to be okay, we’d take our space and everything might well go back to normal. We might get back together, we might be friends. Then…. He started sleeping with our friend. This song goes through the motions of processing leaving somebody, beginning to make your own path, and then all that getting thrown into flux and you start to ask yourself the same questions you started with in the first place. The only remedy was to talk a holiday with my best friend (Helen obvs) and forget about absolutely everything. Every memory I had was thrown out the car window while we were literally driving through Nevada. It felt like crawling back to a normal version of myself and ending in a big sprint finish over the line. Sometimes breaking up with someone feels like crawling through the desert, and sometimes, crawling through the desert feels awfully like breaking up with someone.”

With two stunning alt-country / indie rock EPs (2022’s Sleep Country and 2023’s I Don’t Like My Chances On The Outside), childhood friends Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon proved themselves a new duo with something special going on. As lilo, their songs reflected the life of twenty-somethings in and out of love and luck, with this human element perfectly weighted alongside their arresting harmonies and rich instrumentation.

While informed by a deep understanding and love of folk music, with references to Karen Dalton and Julie Collins a regular occurrence, their music is also modern, in line with the likes of Julia Jacklin, Laura Marling and Mitski. They say they like to give their songs “a poppier lean” because “We want to have fun and try not to think too much about genre. We just write what we feel makes sense for the sentiment of each song.”

Signed to Dalliance Recordings (Francis of Delirium, HighSchool, Gia Margaret, Rowena Wise), 2025 will finally see the release of their brilliant debut album, ‘Blood Ties’. A title that reflects the pair’s enduring bond after years spent together, the inspiration for its making came after a turbulent summer they both endured; “At the time, it felt like we just couldn’t catch a break, it was just one disaster after another,” Helen says.

As is often the way, their pain is our gain with the resultant set of songs feeling fully fleshed out and their best yet, a benefit from them not rushing the process. With its understated beauty, the band explore highs and lows across Blood Ties - feelings of numbness, break-ups and hardship mesh with day dreams, an open heart and moments of happiness. You start to understand the significance more when hearing Christie describe it as “a little window into our lives that we get to keep forever.” Such is their symbiosis that it is at times difficult to separate one voice from another; “We live intertwined lives and as a result, we write about each others’ experiences as much as our own,” Helen explains.

An emotional journey and truly rewarding listen, ‘Blood Ties’ is released on 28 March via Dalliance Recordings.