Lily & Madeleine might be considered Indianapolis’ answer to Over the Rhine. Though there is an obvious age and experience difference — Lily & Madeleine were just teenage sisters when their first records, the EP Weight of the Globe and a self-titled album, came out in 2013 — there is striking similarity in other ways.
Both acts are primarily Americana-oriented singer/songwriter duos whose female singers deliver hauntingly lovely, introspective vocals on melancholia-tinged ballads and mid-tempo compositions. And both have been accepted by the fine-arts establishments in their hometowns — Lily & Madeleine have performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (OTR, of course, has collaborated with our symphony and leading ballet company). Small wonder, then, the duo opened for Over the Rhine at Taft Theatre last year.
For the Jurkiewicz sisters, wider acceptance has been happening fast. Learning early that Lily’s alto voice and Madeleine’s higher, purer soprano worked preternaturally well together in harmony, they uploaded some covers of favorite songs to YouTube. (Additionally, Lily plays guitar and Madeleine piano.) Paul Mahern, a Bloomington, Ind.-based musician (The Zero Boys) and producer, then invited them to collaborate with writer Kenny Childers on songs for their first EP, which attracted the attention of Sufjan Stevens. He signed them to his Asthmatic Kitty label, which released their debut album in 2013 and its 2014 follow-up, Fumes.
With a strong support base in Indianapolis and Bloomington and growing attention from fans of fine singing elsewhere, Lily & Madeleine have an impressive future.
For the twosome’s headlining local stop this week, they will be playing with a full band — Kate Siefker on drums and loops and multi-instrumentalist Shannon Hayden. The next Lily & Madeleine album will be released on New West Records in February.
Tickets/more info here.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2015.