We first heard of Brooklyn’s Lia Ices two years ago, when our friends at Sir—a lovely independent Brooklyn boutique—held a Fashion’s Night Out party featuring what we are told was an amazing set by the songstress (we were galavanting through the southern hemisphere at the time—huzzah!)
Checking out her debut album, Necima, we were really impressed with the song-writing and grace with which she both sang and arranged some artistically sparse instrumentation, but it lacked a bit of punch and creativity. Thankfully, that’s not at all the case with her follow-up, Grown Unknown, just out on Jagjaguwar—the still-kicki’n-it label that started up just one college town away from us back in the mid-ninties. COINCIDENCE?! …yes, definitely.
Back to the point, her sophomore LP shows a much more intricate and nuanced song-writing style, with Ices bringing in non-traditional instrumentation and building a latticework of shivering, wintery music around her beautifully soaring, ghost-like vocals. So, if you missed it as part of last year’s Rock Your Own Adventure, be sure to check out the album’s title track and, if you like it, head to Ices’ MySpace page and take a listen to her duet with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, “Daphne.” On that one, be sure to wait for the mid-song shift—truly cool.
Photo by Eric Ogden.
