An unusual artist name, and an unusual song title. Lily Oktober sounds like she could be a Russian spy in a Bond movie.
Without the cover she is Lily Moodysson (actually, I think that name is more impactful than the moniker), a singer/songwriter from Malmö.
Actually, what she’s done is to trade under her first and second names, the latter of which is Oktober and that makes me wonder if was inspired by her (birth)date, like Denmark’s Gurli Octavia.
Lily recently released this debut single ‘Waste’, and the follow-up, ‘Horse’, will drop on 17th Oktober. Sorry, October.
Both singles are part of a forthcoming EP, set to be released in November.
Lily writes emotional, catchy pop songs and her first recorded effort is a bittersweet story about letting go of someone and pushing yourself to move on. “To me, it’s a classic, yearning heartbreak song”, she says. So he wasn’t a complete waste of time then. There is still something hanging on there in that relationship?
Perhaps, but Lily is preoccupied with waste all the same. She’s a woman on a mission and if he doesn’t match up then she has to move on, putting the past firmly behind her, and pronto.
“I can’t waste another day on being broken /I can’t lie here, I will have to move my body
And maybe at times I’ll think of you/But will you miss it?
Oh no, neither will I.”
And I assume she’s been down this road more than once before. She reveals that “It’s one of those songs that felt pretty natural to write. Yet, it’s been with me for a long time and existed in many different versions. But once that we recorded it in the studio, it all came together naturally.”
There are many breakup ballads. Taylor’s made a nice living out of them, thank you very much. So I’m often a bit wary that they will do no more than go over old ground, yet again.
But I am quite taken with this song. She conveys very well her concern about the passage of time while she’s engaging in this ‘waste’ – “I can’t watch myself float away with time/with the fragments of a youth that passed me by”, which implies the signs of ticking biological clocks even if that wasn’t the intention.
The imagery is spot on, especially that of the twisted heart, deciding to speak.
It’s a slow burner that peaks nicely in a controlled manner without ever getting melodramatic.
Her singing voice is exceptionally sweet and the production values are high. There’s really nothing at all to dislike here.
I could suggest several people that she “sounds like” but I won’t go down that path because Lily has established her own identity immediately with this debut single and shows great promise for the future.
The two singles to date were produced and recorded together with Oskar Nyström, Rasmus Nyström and Adam Bacelj.
Find her on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyoktober/
