Listening Lyrics

Lillian Frances is a sonic collager hailing from Davis, CA. She was a Polly Pocket in a past life, and draws inspiration from the creative nature of children. While crafting her music, Frances isn’t bothered by genre, or motivated to create in a particular style. One minute she leads you through a poppy, textured dream-land, the next you tumble into sparse, trappy beats as Lillian glides effortlessly between English and Spanish.

Her unique alt-pop style has been compared to Lorde, Sylvan Esso, and Billie Eilish. On June 5, she will hand over the keys to Moonrise Queendom, her debut album.

Niall Woods (AKA Nylophone), who hails from Wicklow, Ireland, painstakingly tweaks his songs on a modest recording set-up at home before passing them on to a pro to have live drums mixed in and a few bells and whistles added. You can hear the influence of '60s artists such as The Beach Boys and Del Shannon in the neatly arranged bittersweet tunes that always clock in under 4 minutes, but more modern influences make the final result sound more akin to Ariel Pink. Nylophone's music typically features trickling guitar parts and layers of synth with catchy melancholic vocals on top. Bright melodies are contrasted with darker themes, or vice versa. Nylophone can also be found on Spotify and Facebook.

From Pieter: If you enjoyed this program, please hit the like button on the Listening Lyrics Facebook page. If you're interested in appearing on the show, hit me up at promotions@kdrt.org.

Preacher Cleveland, host of “Praise Time with Preacher” on KDRT, takes over the “Listening Lyrics” spot this Friday, June 19 at 4 PM with a special show to commemorate Juneteenth, celebrated each June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, the most remote of all slave states, where on that date in 1865, slaves were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Here in Davis, Juneteenth is typically celebrated at a huge community event sponsored by The Culture Co-op, the Yolo County Library and other community partners, but in the absence of large gatherings, Preacher is stepping up to offer this programming to the community.

The show will be a mix of history, touching on topics from the evolution of Juneteenth to the Tulsa Massacre, weaving in songs of protest and praise, and connecting it all to the current-day Black Lives Matter Movement.

Bart Van Der Zeeuw -- a drummer in several local bands, and a studio musician -- spends some time with Listening Lyrics, talking about music and what he has been doing during the Covid-19 lockdown. Bart also shares some talents that we have not heard before: his vocals and piano playing.