setteesounds

Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, good night.

Lily May Craig, who goes by Lily May, is a strong, quintessential voice that has entered the Dublin music scene recently. From winning a Battle of the Bands competition held by Smithfield Creatives, to playing shows in venues such as The Grand Social and Workman’s Main Room, she is paving a new and fresh path for her soulful voice and intricate lyrics. Her band is a sixpiece, consisting of Lily May Craig on vocals, Harry Luck on drums, Barry O’Sullivan and Patrick Griffin on guitar, Charlie Webster on bass and Evan Gerry on saxophone.

Lily May was one of the first artists to answer our call into the ether of Instagram, as we were looking for new and fresh sounds, good looking musicians and generally sound people. She has wholeheartedly delivered and in the interview below, discusses her influences, her music and her hatred for a certain piece of cutlery.

💙setteesounds are always listening💙

Considering the above criteria, we asked Lily May if she felt it encapsulated her band as musicians and received an affirmative answer. Regarding particularly new and fresh sounds, she stated she has been ‘working on developing a sound unique to myself, moulding it into something different that [one] cannot get from anyone else.’

Throughout the entire interview, there is a palpable sense of uniqueness and passion, ‘I want Dublin to feel my music, not just hear it.’

Considering this is the debut evolution (episode one) of SetteeSounds, we posed questions about Lily May’s evolution, both personally and with the band itself. She credits her home life as one of the main factors within her evolution, ‘…my Dad performed in a jazz band when I was growing up so music always filled my home as a kid which I was so blessed for. This love for jazz and blues has followed me throughout my life and has had a huge influence on my own work which…really started to develop…when I was in my mid teens.’

The genre, which she describes herself as a ‘jazzy neo soul jumble,’ saturates Lily May’s performance, as her originals ooze and bleed that ‘je ne sais quoi’ that attracts so many people. However, she says the question of genre makes her ‘freeze up’, believing that many ‘up and coming musicians do [the same] when asked.’ She cites, ‘Nina Simone, Joy Crookes, Arethra Franklin, Loyle Carter and Jorja Smith,’ as some of her many influences, giving thanks to them as she believes they have helped ‘grow [her] music and sound into what it is.’

One of the writers here at SetteeSounds has seen Lily May perform on two separate occasions throughout the city, and it is beautiful to see the mutual love of music and phenomonal skill that her and the members of the band have. When speaking about the band and creating music, she says she first starting collating her voice alongside other musicians when she first started college. ‘Barry, one of the guitarists in the band,’ she recalls, ‘was the first person I started creating music with. It instantly clinked with the vibe and sound I was searching for to create something a little different from the music circulating within [the Dublin music scene.] Not too long after we started writing…I began to form a full band as I wanted this sound on a larger scale, [I wanted] something more full and vibrant to be introduced to a crowd and that is how I got to where I am today, alongside amazing musicians, producing music like I never thought I would.’

The aim of SetteeSounds is to show there is music pouring out of Dublin, with beautiful sounds coming from minutes away from your sofa, so we asked Lily May what she thought of this statement, and also how her locality affected her music. Growing up in the Dublin mountains, she feels the ‘slow-paced, relaxed environment…helped me to create my sound and reflects me hugely,’ believing the pace allows ‘a sound for people to sink into and make what they want of it, something relatable for everyone.’

In relation to the music in Dublin city center, she feels ‘if you look hard enough you can find new, amazing, young artists creating fresh and beautiful sounds right at your fingertips.’

She teases the idea of new music, ‘it may or may not be happening very soon!’

To conclude the interview, we ask Lily May to share a fun fact about herself, and we share one in return.

Lily May absolutely hates sporks, ‘they are the worst invention ever known to man.’

(One of our writers secretly loves Hannah Montana and always listens to her on the bus. Go figure.)

You can find Lily May and her band tagged on our instagram post.

Gigs here: Workman’s Main Room on September 28th

Wigwam on October 11th

Headlining Bello Bar on October 24th.

💙setteesounds are always listening💙