Lillian Leadbetter — 18 October 2023 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour
Lillian Leadbetter joined guest host Abbey BK on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at instagram.com/lillianleadbettermusic
Monochrome photo by Ross Mickel
Text by Keagan Lafferty
Autumn is for foliage of every color and pumpkin coffee on cobblestone sidewalks with wired earbuds. Autumn is for those who wish to romanticize the mundane, and make their lives a complex ballad of heartbreak and friendship, and pain and peace. And this year, autumn is about losing yourself in a state of romance with Lillian Leadbetter’s comforting original music and new album, State of Romance.
Lillian Leadbetter is a singer/songwriter based in Burlington and Nashville, and on October 18th, she took Rocket Shop to her own state of romance with her soothing vocals and instrumentals, and enchanting songwriting.
Leadbetter’s first song, “Not in the Mood for Heartbreak” begins with a slow finger picking pattern with dynamic shifts in energy. It details a lost love and trying to avoid the pain of heartbreak asking; “Where’s the love that we once felt?”
Phil Cohen joined Leadbetter on Rocket Shop, playing guitar and doing some vocal accompaniment; he is a songwriter and musician whose solo work blends indie rock and lyrical folk. The two met in the studio at Future Fields in Burlington, and started playing together toward the end of recording last winter for Leadbetter’s recently released album, State of Romance. Cohen also plays in Lillian’s Burlington-based band, Lillian and the Muses, and the two have a musical connection that clicks; “we found a good synergy,” said Leadbetter.
Leadbetter released her album State of Romance on October 13th, full of ethereal vocals and instrumentals that emphasize her dynamic songwriting. The album’s concept was inspired by a friend’s comment that Leadbetter is living in a state of romance; “it's the preservation of a childlike look on the world,” she said.
She explained the framework for the album: “I think there's a narrative arc through the album,” said Leadbetter. “I like to say it's from heartbreak to heartbreak, and everything that happens in between. So, you know, you start in this low place, and throughout the album, we fall into all different types of love. And we fall out of it, too. And that's where we ended up at the end... it's a complete cycle from heartbreak to heartbreak.”
State of Romance was recorded at Future Fields Studios in Burlington, was co-produced by Leadbetter and Eli Gold, and engineered by Dan Rome. Leadbetter likes to give collaborators loose guidelines in the studio to let their personality show in the work. She thanks everyone involved with the creation of this album.
“Without them,” said Leadbetter, “I really don't think that this album would have the same colors and shades and hues and lights and darks that it does. So I'm really grateful for that process. It was a wonderful period of growth and exploration to get to record in a place that was so conducive to experimentation.”
Leadbetter’s songwriting process usually begins acapella, starting with humming, and she uses lots of vocal layering to create choirs as padding. She has a folk-centric background involving choral music and nordic-folk, inspired by artists including Billy Martin and Phoebe Bridgers. “My playlists are pretty sporadic and chaotic but I like to draw in whatever is speaking at the moment,” said Leadbetter.
Her next song “American Sweetheart” is centered around the feeling of coming home after college; the feeling of expanding one’s horizons, then coming home with a new perspective and realizing what was once taken for granted. “I call it like, scrappy glam vibe of being, you know, kind of an American sweetheart, but not too precious about it,” said Leadbetter.
Along with music, she likes to experiment and involve other art forms including photography and music videos to create an aesthetic for her work. She explained that leaning into each medium is valuable, and they inform and inspire each other.
She likes to collaborate with other artists to build these aesthetics, but is also in control of the work she’s creating and has a strong idea of what she wants. “I think having this really strong idea of what I want allows me to both take on and create it myself, but also to delegate really clearly,” said Leadbetter. “And that's something I really enjoy doing.”
She likes the ideas that come from collaboration; “Whatever is best for the music, whatever is best for the vision. That's where I want to land,” said Leadbetter. “So you know, relinquishing control, when it makes sense to do so. But yeah, I have a big hand in it. I'm a one woman team.”
Leadbetter spends her summers in Vermont, and her winters in Nashville, making the road trip between locations into tours. Her first open mic was in Nashville; “I performed with a few different bands at this point,” said Leadbetter. “But there was nothing scarier on the planet than getting up there alone. So I'm really grateful that I got that experience. I feel like it really emboldened my confidence.”
She was drawn to Nashville for its country/Americana influence, and the maximalism it embodies from the gothic romantic era. “Nashville was kind of calling to me, because of the sound that it has,” said Leadbetter. “On this record, you'll hear a lot of pedal steel, you'll hear some banjo, you'll hear strings.”
She compared the hustle and opportunities that Nashville presents compared to the supportive community that Burlington’s music scene provides: “This is a much more wholesome place, like, comparatively speaking,” said Leadbetter. “You definitely can come here and get a bigger hug quicker with the people around you. And Nashville definitely has more of a hustle. But the opportunities are endless there. So you kind of get a trade off for like a big city vibe versus like a smaller community here, I think that's really supportive, and really creative as well, too.”
“Doesn’t Hurt” was Leadbetter’s next song, with both her and Phil Cohen playing guitar, as well as vocal harmonies and a captivating guitar melody during vocal breaks. The song was originally released as “Deosn’t Hurt,” and Leadbetter didn’t notice until it was released that it was spelled wrong. The song repeats the lyric, “tell me that it doesn’t hurt,” reflecting on love lost; “It’s really a love song to the unsaid thoughts,” said Leadbetter.
She discussed her future projects, which include a tour down the coast toward Nashville in January where she will be joined by her partner, Thor, on guitar, bass, pedal steel, and harmonica. She also plans to release a couple singles to end her State of Romance, before beginning work on her next album to be recorded in Nashville this winter. Phil Cohen also has an album coming out soon, and a double single coming out November 10 called “Monday Best” and “Long Black Car.”
Leadbetter’s last song, “Move the Moon” is an unreleased single with a music video for it coming out this winter in collaboration with Macaulay Lerman, a Burlington-based photographer and videographer, as a director. The song details a desire for an impossible love; “If I could move the moon, I’d be with you.”
Leadbetter says she hopes this album inspires people to not be afraid of heartbreak. “Trust yourself to fall in love, trust that it will hurt when you fall out of it. I heard someone say once that love was all about sticking the landing,” said Leadbetter. “[It’s] really making sure that all the time that you invest, the energy you invest, the love that you invest is something that is contributing to your growth and your experience.”
Lillian Leadbetter Website: https://www.lillianleadbettermusic.com/
Lillian Leadbetter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trillillian/?hl=en
Lillian Leadbetter Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0bgE0I7bibBZPPPBToAZGe?autoplay=true
Phil Cohen Website: https://www.philcohenmusic.com/about