Lilly Carron on EP' Messy Mind'

Words by Hannah Powell. Images taken by Nicole Brannen.

Yo Vocal had a chat with local artist Lilly Carron. Fresh off the release of her first EP' Messy Mind', we talk about her sound, her favourite tracks, and her experience in the scene.  

Introducing Lilly Carron, a bit of fresh talent in the New Zealand lo-fi scene. "I'm working a lot from home," Lilly says, from the other side of the phone. "Since the first lockdown, I've had a good opportunity to up my skills on the computer, which has been quite handy. I've just been creating when I can". Self-describing her sound as lo-fi dream pop, Lilly released her first EP 'Messy Mind' in December last year. Featuring seven beautiful tracks full-bellied with blissful beats, her EP delves into the theme of coming-of-age.

The EP, a project she started in late 2018, Lilly praises the full-length of the process. 

"[It was] two and a half years of writing and learning to create ['Messy Mind'], which [was] so much fun." She tells me it wasn't until she was seventeen that she began to be content with what she was writing. Now twenty years old, her material clips close to the bone for those of us growing up in the millennia. Raised on the west coast of Auckland, she grew up within a music-loving family. What Lilly loved about music, in particular, was the therapy behind it.  

"[It was] a way to dive deeper into my own mind and understand other people around me through music. It's fun, and I'm learning about myself." Exploring her own coming-of-age and of those around her, she describes her music as her journey through the ups and downs of life and relationships, as well as the anxieties that come with it. "It's good to have an outlet," she laughs. 

Asking about her experience entering the scene, Lilly replies, "it's all so fresh". Still figuring out where she fits in, she admits it's been a fun ride so far. "I've got to work with amazing people…I found such a welcoming part of the community, which is so cool."

Being surrounded by a great support team, her vulnerabilities have come out naturally. "I think that's why the EP sounds as it does," she says. Her most popular track on the EP, 'Talk to Me', was written with producer Josh Bailey in a single day. "It circles around the idea of communication in general," she says.

"How you want to be there for somebody, but it's not always the best-case scenario – that was the biggest take I got from that song." Her track 'Superhuman', her personal favourite, is about her journey to finding confidence. "I used [the] writing [of] it as a distinction of confidence, putting all of these things I'm anxious about and what I fear into a song, and exhaling it," she says. 

"It gives me a bit of a boost, like 'I got this'." Using the chorus as a mantra, Lilly explains how she found confidence through creating the EP, taking pride in what she created. 

Working part-time and "riding the wave", Lilly tells me about her hopes for the future. When I talked to her, she had just done her first festival set at Nest Fest. "It was surreal," she laughs. "Such a beautiful place." Hoping to nab a few more next summer, Rhythm and Alps is on her dream list. Wanting to perform more and get into the groove of things, working towards an album is high on her agenda too. "There's always going to going to be something I'm doing," she says.