Today, Lala Lala, the project of Chicago musician Lillie West, shares “Prove It,” the newest single from her upcoming album, I Want The Door To Open, out October 8th on Hardly Art. Next month, West will perform a string of record release shows before embarking on a UK, European and North American tour in 2022. “Prove It” is contained and polished, with West singing over sparse guitars before the track reaches its percussive climax. “‘Prove It’ is a song about insatiable people and the idea of ‘good’ vs ‘bad,’” says West. “It’s about lack of control. Even though this song is accusatory, I relate to the person I’m talking to. I think sometimes when we criticize other people we’re also talking about ourselves.” Listen to Lala Lala’s “Prove It”
Additionally, Hardly Art presents Open the Door: Find Your Keys and Unlock Total Serenity, an infomercial for the album. Created by Sarah Squirm and Will Duncan, it features testimonials from CHAI, Sasami Ashworth, Camilo Medina (Divino Niño), IAN SWEET, and more. Watch Open the Door: Find Your Keys and Unlock Total Serenity
Following the release of “Color Of The Pool” and “DIVER,” “Prove It” is accompanied by a beautiful essay by renowned poet, essayist, and critic Hanif Abdurraqib:
“What I crave, what I have always craved, is a collection of songs that make me feel like they are surrounding me in preparation for a season. Not a good season or a bad season, but a season that I can identify as both. This, I’m sure, has to do with me being a product of the Midwest. Where, at least for now, there are still distinct and palpable shifts from month to month, almost as markers of time.
“I think it is the amount of voices on I Want The Door To Open that make me feel comforted, encased, prepared for that moment I know so well where the warmth fades and the darkness comes a little earlier and then, abruptly, a lot earlier. And I don’t mean voices as in different people, I simply mean the multitudinous nature of the choir of sound that one voice can offer. Take, for example, the end of ‘Diver,’ a song that swells and swells until it fades, leaving behind only the residue of voices that echo until the song’s exit, fading right into “Photo Photo,” where the same bursts of choir reappear as the song’s spine.
“I’m saying I like an album that might make me feel less alone, the kind of alone that many of us became acquainted with in newer and sharper ways in the early darkness of the past year, and that some of us might be revisiting in the early darkness of the fall, and the winter, and beyond. I Want The Door To Open is an album that is immense, though not particularly loud. Its volume is in its tenderness, thoughtful arrangements, and elements of surprise, the things that leap out at you when you think you are hearing one song that becomes another song in its final act, a trick this album pulls off alarmingly well, every time. Take, for example, the pulsing heartbeat in ‘Color Of The Pool’ that gives way, right at the last minute, to a fluorescent blooming of horns. “It’s a magic trick, in a way. Making these songs that are not often long in minutes in seconds feel like mini-suites. Like rooms you don’t want to leave.
“Speaking of a room I don’t want to leave, I firmly believe that I have maybe given up and given in for good. The inside is where I wanna be whenever the fragile ecosystem we’re all tumbling forward in starts to go south again. And if that is going to be the case, then I require albums that are generous enough to make the inside feel like the outside. An album that feels like a gathering, like a warmth creeping in through a window, no matter the weather. An album that feels like a park, bursting with friends and strangers, shouts and laments. I think this is the one for all of my internal and external joys, sadnesses, anxieties, and the small survivals that open up the door to all of the larger survivals to come.”
West co-produced I Want The Door To Open with Yoni Wolf of WHY?. It features contributions from Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, poet Kara Jackson, OHMME, Sen Morimoto, Christian Lee Hutson, Kaina Castillo, Meg Duffy, Will Miller, Gia Margaret, Josiah Wolf, Adam Schatz, and former tourmate Ben Gibbard.
“Just when we thought we’d arrived at a conclusion, [West] pulls out the rug again: A euphoric sax bursts in (courtesy of Adam Schatz), playing one freaked-out bent note that never wants to be caught, multiplying itself back into inscrutability.” - Pitchfork on “Color of the Pool”
“[‘Color of the Pool’ is] enveloped in effervescent synths and visceral harmonies” - Stereogum
“‘DIVER’ introduces us to I Want The Door To Open in beautiful, memorable fashion.” - PAPER
“Featuring baroque instrumentation and a soaring crescendo, [‘DIVER’ is] a warm introduction to [I Want the Door to Open].” - The FADER
Lala Lala Tour Dates
Fri. Oct. 8 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Wed. Oct. 13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room ^
Wed. Oct. 20 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg!
Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 - Amsterdam, NE @ Paradiso Noord
Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 - Groningen, NE @ Vera
Sat. Jan. 29, 2022 - Brugge, BE @ Cactus at Villa Bota
Sun. Jan. 30, 2022 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique (Rotonde)
Tue. Feb. 1, 2022 - Köln, DE @ Baumann & SOHN
Wed. Feb. 2, 2022 - Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain
Thu. Feb. 3, 2022 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
Sat. Feb. 5, 2022 - Göteborg, SE @ Oceanen
Sun. Feb. 6, 2022 - Oslo, NO @ Internasjonalen
Mon. Feb. 7, 2022 - Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7
Tue. Feb. 8, 2022 - Malmö, SE @ Plan B
Wed. Feb. 9, 2022 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega at Ideal Bar
Fri. Feb. 11, 2022 - Prague, CZ @ Underdogs’
Sat. Feb. 12, 2022 - Schorndorf, DE @ Club Manufaktur
Sun. Feb. 13, 2022 - Freiburg, DE @ Swamp
Mon. Feb. 14, 2022 - Yverdon-les-Bains, CH @ L’Amalgame
Wed. Feb. 16, 2022 - Zürich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
Thu. Feb. 17, 2022 - Annecy, FR @ Festival Hors-Pistes
Fri. Feb. 18, 2022 - Metz, FR @ Aérogare
Sat. Feb. 19, 2022 - Lille, FR @ l’Aéronef
Sun. Feb. 20, 2022 - Brighton, UK @ Green Door Store
Mon. Feb. 21, 2022 - London, UK @ Moth Club
Wed. Feb. 23, 2022 - Leeds, UK @ Hyde Park Book Club
Thu. Feb. 24, 2022 - Glasgow, UK @ Nice N Sleazy
Fri. Feb. 25, 2022 - Manchester, UK @ YES
Sat. Feb. 26, 2022 - Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
Mon. Feb. 28, 2022 - Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire
Sat. Mar. 12 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Mon. Mar. 14 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Tue. Mar. 15 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Wed. Mar. 16 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Fri. Mar. 18 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile (Second Stage)
Sat. Mar. 19 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
Sun. Mar. 20 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Tue. Mar. 22 - Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club
Fri. Mar. 25 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
Sat. Mar. 26 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Sun. Mar. 27 - Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Mon. Mar. 28 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
Wed. Mar. 30 - Austin, TX @ The Parish
Thu. Mar. 31 - Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips
Sat. Apr. 2 - Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI
Sun. Apr. 3 - Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo Coffee
Wed. Apr. 13 - Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel
Thu. Apr. 14 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
Fri. Apr. 15 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Sat. Apr. 16 - Urbana, IL @ Rose Bowl Tavern
Sun. Apr. 17 - Nashville, TN @ High Watt
Tue. Apr. 19 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
Wed. Apr. 20 - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
Fri. Apr. 22 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
Sat. Apr. 23 - Woodstock, NY @ Colony
Sun. Apr. 24 @ Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Wed. Apr. 27 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Thu. Apr. 28 - Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
Fri. Apr. 29 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Sat. Apr. 30 - Hamtramck, MI @ Outer Limits Lounge
* = w/ Unannounced Special Guest & Kara Jackson
^ = Cryogeyser & Fashion Club
! = Salt Cathedral & Crosslegged
color_of_the_pool diver hardly_art i_want_the_door_to_open lala_lala prove_it