To me, it’s always a pleasant surprise to learn that your friend possesses a talent of which you were previously unaware. You discover that your roommate is fluent in four languages or that your study-buddy in Stats used to be a competitive gymnast. With second-year Lily Dasso, after stumbling across a video posted on Facebook, I found out that the girl can sing.
When I asked Lily what prompted her to start singing, she simply remarked that she’s “always loved singing, always done it.” Starting with the school choir in middle school, Lily performed throughout high school in various choirs and a cappella groups. During her senior year, partly due to senioritis, she expanded her musical abilities by writing her own music and learning to play the guitar.
Lily remains active at UChicago and recently joined “Make A Joyful Noise,” an a cappella group on campus. Though singing has never come as a struggle, Lily says she does not stem from a musical family, jokingly noting that she is the only one in the group who can manage to carry a tune without upsetting her mother.
Lily cites Bon Iver as her main musical inspiration, gushing about the unique sound produced by Vernon’s voice and the instruments and harmonies that accompany him. She is also attracted to the sound of Lykke Li, who Lily describes as “weird but interesting,” especially when paired with the hum of hollow instruments in the background. Zooey Deschanel is another performer whose voice Lily has come to adore.
Concerning her own voice, Lily describes it as “high and girly” which allows her to experiment with songs by altering notes and phrases. Lily claims that her writing tends to be on the “pop” side of the music spectrum, slightly contradicting her personal aversion to pop music. She has written several songs including the calm, soporific “Lullaby” and “Watch A Broken Heart,” a song discussing—you guessed it—heartbreak. However, Lily does not wish to be constrained to a single genre or style of music, but instead desires to “mix it up” and abandon the typical procedure involved in producing music.
A biology and potential English double major, Lily initially regarded singing as a hobby to help ease the stress of school. But now that she has become more serious in composing music, Lily is entertaining the idea of taking her music to another level. Numerous residents of Woodward House in Max Central have already heard and been touched by Lily’s voice. Listen to her music yourself, and join the fan club.
Lily covers Priscilla Ahn’s “Dream”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXqmMEvuEik&feature=related
An original song, “Storm Therapy”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQnZBChIMxI