Videos

LALA LALA announces new album

• 21st Jul 2021

Lala Lala, project of Chicago-based musician Lillie West, announces her new album, ‘I Want The Door To Open’, out October 8th on Hardly Art, and presents its lead single/video, “DIVER“.

Following 2018’s acclaimed ‘The Lamb‘, West wanted to make something sonically bigger and thematically more outward-looking than anything she’d done before; a record that would be less a straightforward documentation of her own personal struggles and more like a poem or a puzzle box, with sonic and lyrical clues that would allow the listener to, as the title says, open the door to the greater meaning of those struggles. ‘I Want The Door To Open’is a musical quest undertaken with the knowledge that the titular door may never open; but it is through falling in love with the quest itself that one may find the next closest thing. It’s a bold exploration of persona and presence from an artist questioning how to be herself fully in a world where the self is in constant negotiation. 

Lala Lala’s first offering, “DIVER” is “the thesis of the album.” It’s a pop song of immense proportions, replete with layered synths and booming, wide open drumming contributed by fellow Chicago musician Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, and West pushing her vocals to the ragged edge. 

To describe the theme of “DIVER” West says “I want total freedom, total possibility, total acceptance. I want to fall in love with the rock.” The rock in question is a reference to Sisyphus, the mythical figure doomed by the gods to forever push a boulder up from the depths of hell. “I think it’s easy to feel like we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, that we’re Sisyphus. The key is falling in love with the labor of walking up the mountain.” The diver in the song is referencing the character Anna Kerrigan in the book Manhattan Beachby Jennifer Egan, a woman who works at Brooklyn Naval Yard and becomes the first female diver sent down to repair ships. The accompanying video, directed by Brielle Brilliant & West, reflects this notion, as West approaches a giant block of ice in the middle of barren land to retrieve a frozen, encased set of keys. 

West co-produced ‘I Want the Door to Open’ with Yoni Wolf of Why? In addition to Ogbonnaya, ‘I Want the Door to Open’ features contributions from poet Kara Jackson,OHMME, Adam Schatz of Landlady, Sen Morimoto, Christian Lee Hutson, Kaina Castillo, Meg Duffy, Will Miller, Gia Margaret, Josiah Wolf and former tourmate Ben Gibbard. 

Lala Lala will play a string of record release shows in support of ‘I Want The Door To Open’ in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn. Tickets are on sale Friday, July 15th at 10am local time. 

Lala Lala live dates:
Oct 8 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall w/ Unannounced Special Guest & Kara Jackson
Oct 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room w/ Fashion Club
Oct 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Salt Cathedral & Crosslegged

Jan 27 – Paradiso Noord – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jan 28 – Vera – Groningen, Netherlands
Jan 29 – Cactus @ Villa Bota – Brugge, Belgium 
Jan 30 – Botanique (Rotonde) – Brussels, Belgium
Feb 01 – Bumann & SOHN – Köln, Germany
Feb 02 – Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, Germany
Feb 03 – Molotow – Hamburg, Germany
Feb 05 – Oceanen – Göteborg, Sweden
Feb 06 – Internasjonalen – Oslo, Norway
Feb 07 – Hus 7 – Stockholm, Sweden
Feb 08 – Plan B – Malmö, Sweden
Feb 09 – Vega @ Ideal Bar – Copenhagen, Denmark
Feb 11 – Underdogs’ – Prague, Czech Republic
Feb 12 – Club Manufaktur – Schorndorf, Germany
Feb 13 – Swamp – Freiburg, Germany
Feb 14 – L’Amalgame – Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Feb 16 – Rote Fabrik – Zürich, Switzerland
Feb 17 – Festival Hors-Pistes – Annecy, FR 
Feb 18 – Aérogare – Metz, France
Feb 19 – l’Aéronef – Lille, France
Feb 20 – The Green Door Store – Brighton, United Kingdom
Feb 21 – Moth Club – London, United Kingdom
Feb 23 – Hyde Park Book Club – Leeds, United Kingdom
Feb 24 – Nice N Sleazy – Glasgow, United Kingdom
Feb 25 – YES – Manchester, United Kingdom
Feb 26 – Strange Brew – Bristol, United Kingdom
Feb 28 – La Boule Noire – Paris, France

‘I Want The Door To Open’ tracklist
1. Lava
2. Color of the Pool
3. DIVER – YouTube
4. Photo Photo feat. Ohmme
5. Prove it
6. Castle Life
7. Bliss Now!
8. Straight & Narrow
9. Beautiful Directions feat. Kara Jackson
10. Plates feat. Ben Gibbard
11. Utopia Planet