Lily and Madeleine
Canterbury Girls

THE REVIEW

Fourth LP for the Jurkiewicz sisters nearly three years after the last "Keep it Together," a transitional work that suggested the Indiana girls were progressively abandoning the safe paths of chamber pop from their first two albums. "Canterbury Girls" indeed confirms that new paths can be taken with an interesting synt-pop contamination. Having left behind the bucolic atmospheres of "Fumes" and the darker ones of "Keep it Together," Lily and Madeleine gently shift towards a very lively and delightful form of song; the bitter aftertaste of the lyrics is still there while the chamber pop is now deeply tinged with new synthetic sounds, if not even purely '70s disco as in the bold "Supernatural Sadness." The title track is of Floydian inspiration, with echoes that return also in the tail of the gem "Can't Help the Way I Feel", a Motown-influenced power-pop song that immediately delights and engages, making it impossible to stay still; you have to move and clap your hands. The synt pop of "Pachinko Song" opening side B is surprising, a song structured with an almost mechanical progression resembling the terrible and hypnotic Japanese game in sounds and rhythm, while side A is opened by "Self Care", an evolved and more mature version of the debut's chamber pop.

"Canterbury Girls" is an interesting album for the new approach to music by Lily and Madeleine; by eliminating strings and brass, replaced by synthesizers and electronic sounds reminiscent of the early '80s in many of their parts, they have stepped out of a classification that had become too narrow and was compressing their undeniable compositional talent. To be followed closely in the future.