Pillars of Influence: Five essentials that inspire Lily Lyons
No artist is an island, and music doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it takes more than just guitar skills to write an album, and so, for her debut, Re-Open The World, Lily Lyons was engaging with life around her.
Inspiration often lies far beyond the world of music for some musicians. Sure, great albums and the work of other artists come into play, but it’s also books, films, visual art, places, people and beyond. Influence can find us absolutely anywhere, from galleries to random podcast episodes, and each little piece joins together into one big tapestry that makes up a person’s creative brain.
For Lily Lyons, the tapestry of her mind includes a little bit of everything, from Russian literature to iconic British television. In fact, the entirety of her debut album might not have existed if it weren’t for the influence of one podcast host, laying a lot of credit at one woman’s feet.
As she releases the record, we caught up to celebrate the bits and pieces that went into it, talking through the five pillars of influence that hold it up, and five vital inspirations that utterly shaped who Lyons is as an artist.
Lily Lyons’ pillars of influence:
‘And It’s Still Alright’ – Nathaniel Rateliff (2020)
Lyons tried to cheat the system from the get-go: “In the name of trying to avoid listing off only absolute classics for albums that I love, I will dodge saying Grace by Jeff Buckley,” she claimed, before acknowledging her own ruse, “Even though it is a foundational album for me. I am cheating, I am putting two albums by saying how I won’t put Grace by Jeff Buckley down even though I would, if I could, but I won’t.”
Instead, she opted for something more modern and criminally underrated. “An album that really moved me was And It’s Still Alright by Nathaniel Rateliff. His singing and guitar playing is so, so good on this record. I love the way it’s mixed, the emotions all feel so real to me,” she gushed, carrying the impact of the 2020 record into her own songwriting.
In particular, one track stuck with her as she told us, “There’s a song called ‘Kissing Our Friends’ that I truly believe is a perfect song”.
It’s a track that reminds her exactly what she loves about music, stating, “I like music that feels conversational, with plain but gut-wrenching lyrics, he somehow manages to do this without veering into theatrics. This song almost feels like a letter, resembling the kind of feeling I get from a Sondheim lyric. Just perfect.”
‘The Master and Margarita’ – Mikhail Bulgakov (1969)
Typically, you’ll find that a writer is also a reader; in fact, my old English teacher told me that one really can’t exist without the other, and that to develop your own knack with language, you have to engage with how others use it and step outside of yourself for a moment.
Lyons clearly agrees as her favourite book even steps outside of the English language, picking a contemporary Russian classic, Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, calling it “Whimsical, evocative and colourful in its writing”.
“In general, I’m really in love with anything that resembles a fairy tale. I feel like a lot of the time, everyday events feel so much more dramatic than what they sound like when you lay the facts of the story out,” she said, taking that attitude into her own work by weaving feelings into stories, and stories into tales of emotion.
‘The Squid and the Whale’ – Noah Baumbach (2005)
Lyons picking this movie reminded me of how much of an incredible film this is, prompting me to rewatch it, so thank you, Lily!
“The Squid and the Whale is my favourite film,” she declared. Similar to her favourite song and love for conversational art, this movie has the same relatable yet beautiful approach as she explained, “It’s crushing, funny, dramatic and totally norm-core all at once. Everyday interactions are framed in a way that feels like the walls are closing in”.
But everything from Baumbach stands out to her. “Most films by Noah Baumbach strike me right to the core. He captures all the small and silent ways our souls get thrown about, and I find myself watching this film over and over again,” she stated, adding, “The closing scene is so gentle and absolutely enormous in its emotional weight at the same time. I laugh every time, I cry every time.”
‘This Jungian Life’ – Lisa Marchiano, Deborah Stewart and Joseph Lee
The way even the most random things can change us is miraculous, and in Lyons’ case, it all came from a podcast.
“I am in love with the podcast This Jungian Life. I listen to it almost religiously; it introduced me to a core part of the way I look at the world, and that is through a Jungian lens,” she said. The lens is about looking at the world through universal patterns and archetypes like the hero, the shadow, the persona, and more.
For Lyons, this podcast laid it all out. “I love how deeply and sweetly they move around quite lofty topics,” she said, adding about the comfort she finds in the approach, “As a sensitive person, it was quite a big moment to find a group of people talking about the small details of life with so much attention and curiosity.” It also took a more direct influence, as Lyons said, “Re-Open the World was deeply inspired by Lisa Marchiano’s book The Vital Spark”.
‘Fleabag’ – Phoebe Waller-Bridge (2016–2019)
“Fleabag and Phoebe Waller-Bridge have a permanent home in my head and heart,” Lyons admitted, taking a stance that surely any 20-something woman who’s seen the show would agree with.
“I love the framework of her being this dissociative person who is always turning to camera and disengaging from the world but that one day she meets someone who can see through it,” she explained, picking out that scene as a stand out moment, explaining, “Andrew Scott asking her ‘where did you go just then?’ as she turns to the camera always feels like some of the best television I’ve ever witnessed.”
Mostly, though, Fleabag is a necessary comfort: “When I’m on the road and in hotels on my own at the end of a long day, I will put Fleabag on as a home comfort,” she said, calling it “so funny and meaningful.”
