They say that turmoil can help fuel an artist to come up with inspired work, and that may very well be the case for the longtime leader of
Lilys,
Kurt Heasley. Experiencing upheaval in his personal life,
Heasley had to put his family ahead of finishing off the recording of
Lilys' eight release overall,
Everything Wrong Is Imaginary. But
Heasley came up with a plan -- instead of spending long amounts of time in the studio, he was able to get the job done at home. Putting his vocals and guitar parts down on tape at his own studio, the tracks were then sent to producer
Michael Musmanno (best known for working with hip-hop acts like
OutKast), who filled in the missing spaces with various studio musicians. What you get is another quirky and eclectic
Lilys set, which includes everything from laid-back funk ("A Diana's Diana") to up-tempo ditties that sound quite comparable to
the Eels at times (the album opening "Black Carpet Magic"). Although
Lilys is often thought of as a "one-man band,"
Heasley appears to have found a worthy partner in crime with
Musmanno, as evidenced by their collaborative work on
Everything Wrong Is Imaginary.