lilies on mars: ago

Following the 2015 lead single "Dancing Star" (co-produced with Tom Furse of The Horrors), which Thump called "the Perfect Cosmic Pop Jam," Lilies on Mars present their full-length album ∆GO. Born and raised on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, a place that recalls mystical legends and the strength of a population that has fought throughout history to keep traditions alive, Lisa Masia and Marina Cristofalo moved to London in 2002. Sometime later, Lilies on Mars emerged, the result of many long nights spent listening to music at their home studio in Hackney and jamming with every imaginable instrument, from guitars to vintage organs, synthesizers, effects, and drum machines. The contrast of living between these two places has had a profound effect on Lilies on Mars's music. It became a way to navigate their experience, gently incorporating all the information that inspired them to become notes and melodies, and, more precisely, a sound. Delicate, surreal, and sometimes disturbing, like a lily growing on a red planet. This is the imagery within which they are suspended, where time does not exist. Collaborations with Italian pop experimentalist Franco Battiato also dramatically influenced and inspired the project in its early stages. Masia and Cristofalo began writing ∆GO immediately after returning from an extensive tour of Europe and America. Filled with inspiration and excitement and with overwhelming changes in their lives post-tour, they searched for shelter at Masia's beach house in Sardinia. Here they set up a studio and found the perfect space and freedom needed to create and experiment with new sounds. All songs on ∆GO were written from edited improvisations and immediately recorded, while post-production is also a key element in the whole creative process. Retro-futurist, psychedelic, and cosmic pop elements are accentuated on this album. At times uplifting, at times drone- and kraut-like. They are strongly influenced by electronic experimentalists and pioneers such as Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The ambiguity of the title ("ago" translates to "needle" in Italian) parallels the retro-futurism represented by the duo's distorted silhouettes on the album cover, inspired by the Rutt-Etra-Izer video synthesizer.