Popular Music graduate Lily Lyons signs to major label Fiction Records
27 June 2024
Credit: Sequoia Ziff
2024 has been quite the year for singer songwriter Lily Lyons, a 2018 graduate from Falmouth’s Popular Music BA.
Having already completed a European tour supporting award-winning Canadian musician Dan Mangan, Lily released EP Fabric on Fiction Records in April – making her label-mates with the likes of Tame Impala and The Big Moon.
“I've definitely got a bit of ‘small fish in a big pond’ syndrome”, Lily tells us, “but the team is so encouraging and there isn't this expectation of me to be a ‘big star’ yet – they're meeting me where I’m currently at, which is amazing.”
Fabric is an ethereal four-track folk offering and has been met with both critical acclaim and considerable streaming support – something which Lily still finds surprising: “I try not to look at the numbers too much, but it’s great that people are listening to what I’m making – it’s not why I started making music, but it does feel pretty amazing.”
And things aren’t set to slow down any time soon; after years of finessing her live performance style – including playing a string of shows in the UK and US with Grammy award-winning pianist Kevin Hays – Lily will appear at Glastonbury Festival this weekend, playing the Croissant Neuf Stage – one of the festival’s longest-standing fixtures. “When the booking came through, the whole team was really excited”, she tells us.
Hailing from London, Lily made the move south to Falmouth in 2015 to study Popular Music, having never put pen to paper to write a song before. Citing Nick Drake and Frank Sinatra as influences, Lily’s songs celebrate gentleness and deep feeling – delivered in a soft, otherworldly voice that is difficult to forget.
“I have always gravitated towards music that either soothes or excites me, and so I hope people listening to my music can access those feelings in some way”, Lily tells us.
She released her debut EP Like I Used To in 2022 and credits her time at Falmouth for shaping her as a songwriter. “The open-mindedness of the lecturers was amazing; it was such a nurturing environment and that really supported me as I stepped into the world of songwriting”, she told us, adding: “It felt very different to the fast-paced, intense atmosphere of a lot of other universities I’d heard about; Falmouth felt pure and rooted in creativity, and it was such a beautiful place to start my music journey.”
Playing at Glastonbury this weekend is just the start of Lily’s festival appearances this year; she is set to appear at Cambridge Folk Festival, Deer Shed Festival and will be making a long-overdue return to Cornwall for The Cornish Bank’s Summer Camp on 28 July.
As well as her solo sets, she similarly relishes playing with others – supporting Liana Flores in Manchester and playing with Ruby Dew at The Shacklewell Arms in London are just two upcoming dates – and she can trace her passion for collaboration back to her time at Falmouth: “It was such a beautiful multidisciplinary environment. A lot of the people I've stayed in touch with were on different courses to me, and I feel very grateful to know these creatives – I don't think I’d have met people like that anywhere other than Falmouth.”
Check out Lily’s upcoming tour dates here.
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