Lily Vakili - Facial Recognition Technology
PREMIERE | LILY VAKILI UNLEASHES ‘FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY’
Alternative-punk-folk-rock artist Lily Vakili introduces the second single, “Facial Recognition Technology,” from her forthcoming EP, Set of Seven, produced by David Amlen of Sound on Sound Studios.
Lily Vakili Band
Lily’s life, like her music, has been chock-full of thrills and mad excitement, mirroring her dramatic entry at birth. “I was born in Honduras during a military coup,” says the New Jersey-based artist, “my dad walked over injured soldiers in the hospital to welcome me to the world. He’s always said that set the stage for everything else in my life.”
Having traveled and lived around the world, including Honduras, Florida, Puerto Rico, Thailand, and Iowa, Lily, after training as a dancer performed as part of a theatre troupe in Minneapolis, worked as an actress, stage director, choreographer, corn detasseling, nurse, researcher, and waitress. She followed by taking a degree in law and starting a family.
Wise words from her mother motivated Lily to comply with her inner artistic imagination. She released two albums, No Exit and Meadowlands, and then formed her own band made up of Ben St. Jack (lead guitar), Cecile Williams (backing vocals), Joel Dorow (harmonica), Jim Tyndall (bass), and Gordon Kuba (drums). The band released their first album, Oh Alright, in 2018.
Lily Vakili and her band have it going on, taking “Facial Recognition Technology” from low and grinding to swashbuckling levels of blistering harmonics.
Shortly after Oh Alright, the band entered the studio to begin laying down tracks for another album, releasing the new album’s first single, “She Wants What,” last October to excellent media acclaim.
“Facial Recognition Technology” opens on thick dirty guitars snarling out gritty blues colors, as Lily’s half-sung half-spoken tones infuse the lyrics with palpably tantalizing timbres.
“Democracy’s become a plaything / Of cons and Russian bots / What’s that? That’s the smell of / Late-stage capitalism beginning to rot / Only thing that makes sense to me / Is loving you.”
A momentary breakdown, followed by a sharply popping snare shifts the harmonic flow from measured and drawling to ramped-up rousing alt-rock infused with searing gospel-like vocals riding potent guitars, a braying organ, and incandescent licks from St. Jack’s axe.
Lily Vakili and her band have it going on, taking “Facial Recognition Technology” from low and grinding to swashbuckling levels of blistering harmonics.
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