By 1999, Kurt Heasley had moved Lilys so far beyond shoegaze that a listener could've snapped a neck trying to follow the band's trajectory. The outfit's Sire debut, The 3 Way, dropped in 1999 and it conjured up comparisons to Ray Davies, but it also indicated that Heasley had pop skills utterly unlike those of most of his contemporaries. There were others looking to the same things for the inspiration for their power pop, but Heasley, especially here, was taking that and adding layers to things, such that the tunes here charm nearly every second of the way as they unravel.
Reissued now on vinyl via Sundazed, The 3 Way has never sounded better, and it still surprises. While the big Beat Group sound of "Dimes Make Dollars" still is punchy, the weird "Socs Hip" combines something that sounds like an outtake from Arthur with an expansive, nearly unwieldy melody. The cut is, like many here, almost exasperating, and it seems at moments still as if Kurt is so full of ideas that he can't stop putting them forward in every song, at every possible opportunity. Luckily, this stuff works or it would be insufferable. "Leo Ryan (Our Pharaoh's Daughter)", like "The Lost Victory", brings a bounce to things here that keeps the momentum going. Elsewhere, "And One (on One)" indicates to us that Kurt owned some Left Banke records too, not just Kinks ones. That the track's got a memorable hook makes it even better, and more than just a tribute to past geniuses.
The 3 Way confounds in that way too, with a listener nearly overwhelmed with the indications of influences, and homages here. But somehow it remains a charming record, and one which recalls an era when bands like The Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control were taking faintly similar risks. Still, Kurt Heasley swung for the fences consistently, and he had the talent to get the home runs too. These numbers from 1999 all glide by, bits of organ, fuzzy bass, and lilting vocals making a listener drunk on the promise of the past's pop. If anything, Heasley is raiding the archives to snap the pieces together in a new way. It's not enough to call this power pop given how much more complicated this is than nearly anything else of the era that would get that tag. The 3 Way remains a masterpiece, even if it's one that's nearly impossible to lock down, and one which seems to exist nearly in its own genre.
The 3 Way by Lilys is out on Friday via Sundazed.
[Photo: Noah Greenberg]