Lilah Larson is reluctantly stepping out of the self-imposed shadows. Having toured with the band Sons of an Illustrious Father since she was 17, she’s accustomed to deflecting direct limelight towards the larger group. With Pentimento, her debut solo album, that’s changing. Recorded at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango with Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chestnutt), the album features intimate meditations on conflicted love and relationships long since failed, written and performed—from vocals, to drums, to 19th-century pump organ
—solely by Larson.
She takes her role as a queer, intersectional feminist musician seriously, saying “…what making music does for me—the space that it creates is a very queer space, and from early childhood that was very important to me because I was able to create my own context on my own grounds for my own gender performance. I think it’s very important to be visible as different and socially conscious.” (Document Journal) Larson’s songwriting prowess and stage presence have prompted comparisons to an enviable list of icons including Patti Smith, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen.
