On Brendan Whitney's latest release as Alias, he's brought in kid brother Ehren tocollaborate, and together they have produced an album that is lush andethereal with a dream-like groove. Wide spaces of silence separate thetracks, giving a feeling of moving from one dream to another. Anticon
The songs on Lillian are largely instrumental, with theonly vocals heavily distorted samples. Drum loops provide a groundingbackbeat on many tracks, including the opening track "Eman Ruosis Iht"("This is our name" backwards). Erhen brings in a distinct easterninfluence with flute and clarinet on "Most Important Things" andothers, and he winds his sax through a framework of samples on thetitle track.
A pair of minute-long tracks, "Sunfuzz" and "Moonfuzz," giveatmospheric vignettes relating to their respective heavenly bodies."Sunfuzz" brings to mind a hot afternoon, vibrant and bright, with ashimmer like heating rising from baked pavement. "Moonfuzz" has a cool,quiet feel and conjures up a late night walk around a dark lake with acool wind coming off the water.
A hidden track at the end of "Netting Applause" comes as a bit of ashock after the dreaminess of the previous 13 tracks; it's a scratchydistorted piano with an unaltered sax accompaniment, giving theimpression of someone playing along with an old record of old westsaloon music. It adds a bit of a surreal (though lovely) aspect to thealbum, just like any dream has.
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