“When we were in high school, we had started singing songs together, and then we met [producer Paul Mahern], and he thought we had some potential,” explained Madeleine Jurkiewicz of the origin of the duo Lily & Madeleine. “So he challenged us to try to write our own music, and ‘In the Middle’ was one of the first songs we ever wrote together. We just filmed it in his studio and then [posted it on YouTube] for fun.”
What started as a lark quickly became a career for the Jurkiewicz sisters, Madeleine (now age 21) and Lily (now 19). In fact, the duo has put out multiple records since 2013, including the recent release Keep It Together, for which they are currently on tour. “We started out just making music kind of as a fun project, but when it started taking off we decided that we needed to keep the ball rolling and put out more material,” said Madeleine in a recent interview with The Santa Barbara Independent. “We’ve worked really hard the past couple of years to get three full-length records and an EP out, and now we finally have a second to breathe and think about the next thing that we want to put out.”
Although they were both teenagers when they made their debut, the sisters’ songwriting has the gravitas one might expect from a more seasoned duo. Keep It Together is no exception and sees the pair exploring their most personal material yet. “Nothing” is a particularly haunting ballad about the disintegration of a romance and its emotional debris. “Hotel Pool,” “Westfield,” and “Hourglass” are other standouts, but the entire album is an original, captivating aural experience. With their trademark close harmonies and compelling music compositions that feature folk, rock, and tinges of jazz, Lily & Madeleine have been garnering a wide range of fans outside their home state of Indiana. Don’t miss them when they stop in Santa Barbara Sunday, September 18, at the Lobero Theatre.