Lala Lala, the Chicago-based project of Lillie West, premiered a new stop motion animated video for “Water Over Sex”.

West says the second song off her forthcoming album ‘The Lamb’ (out September 28th on

Hardly Art) is about a paranoid feeling “that any good fortune I encountered would be subsequently taken from me to ‘balance the scales.’”
 
The video was co-directed by Matthew James-Wilson and Toronto-based illustrator Ginette Lapalme. James-Wilson explains how the video came about, commenting:

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“I know Ginette from the comics scene in Toronto and, since Lillie is a fan (with her stickers on her guitar case and a few tattoos of her drawings),

I wanted to work on an animated music video with her for the new album. We spent a week straight shooting using fabric, photocopies, Ginette's collection of miniatures and knick-knacks, and stuff we found at 99 cent stores in Chinatown. The video follows a lamb doll (which Ginette made) continually daydreaming about the objects around her while she tries to

live a relaxing life.

We wanted to sort of indirectly reference the conflict in the song about how your lifestyle changes after you quit drinking. Since we all live in three different cities and couldn't film Lillie for it, I asked Lillie to send over webcam footage of her singing the song that we could animate over.”
 
Originally from London, West moved with her family to Los Angeles, where she spent her teenage years, and later to Chicago. She initially started Lala Lala as a way to communicate things that

she felt she could never say out loud. But on ‘The Lamb’, her second full-length and debut for Hardly Art, she has found strength in vulnerability. Through bracing hooks and sharp lyrics, the 24-year-old songwriter and guitarist illustrates a nuanced look on her own adulthood -- her fraught insecurity, struggles with addiction, and the loss of several people close to her.
 
“’The Lamb’ was written during a time of intense paranoia after a home invasion, deaths of loved ones and general violence around me and my friends,” says West. 

“I started to frequently and vividly imagine the end of the world, often becoming too frightened to leave my house. This led me to spend a lot of time examining my relationships and the choices I’d made, often

wondering if they were correct and/or kind.”
 
The album’s final form came together while recording at Rose Raft Studio in rural Illinois. Performed by West with Emily Kempf on bass/backup vocals and Ben Leach on drums, the musical arrangements of the album -- blending post punk with dream pop influences that incorporate vibrant synths, a drum machine, and even saxophone -- find a balance between light and dark, reinforcing these dynamic and intimate songs that will surely resonate.
 
Lala Lala kicked off an extensive North American tour on August 8th at Chicago’s House of Vans (where West took over Pitchfork’s Instagram Story), and will continue to play shows through mid-October with Wolf Parade, LVL UP, WHY?, and Mothers.

European dates will follow soon.

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LIVE DATES

 

North American Tour Dates:
08/23 - Louisville, KY - Headliners &
08/24 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East &
08/25 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway &
08/26 - Indianapolis, IN - The Hi-Fi &
08/29 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison *
08/30 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s *
08/31 - Cincinnati, OH - Woodward Theater #
09/19 - Boston, MA - Great Scott %
09/20 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right %
09/21 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd %
09/22 - Raleigh, NC - Kings %
09/24 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt %
09/25 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight %
09/26 - Nashville, TN - The 5 Spot %
09/28 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (Album Release Show)
10/02 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa %
10/03 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall %
10/04 - Austin, TX - Barracuda %
10/05 - Dallas, TX - Curtain Club %
10/06 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger %
10/08 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace %
10/09 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole %
10/10 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar %
10/11 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room %
10/12 - Los Angeles, CA - Resident %
10/13 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord %
11/04 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center #^
11/05 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room #
11/06 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar #
11/08 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theater #
11/09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge #
11/10 - Boise, ID - Visual Arts Collective #
11/12 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s #
11/13 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall #
11/14 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall #
11/23 - Detroit, MI - Loving Touch #^
11/24 - Pittsburgh, PA - Sprit Hall #^
11/25 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom #
11/27 - Portsmouth, NH - 3S Artspace #
11/29 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer #
12/03 - Richmond, VA - The Broadberry #
12/05 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West #
12/08 - Lexington, KY - Cosmic Charlies #

& w/ Wolf Parade
# w/ WHY?
* w/ LVL UP
% w/ Mothers
^ w/ The Ophelias

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B I Z Z A R R E

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