Listening to Lyla is like looking at a fine piece of art or a stained glass window. You are instantly struck by the beauty and brilliance but you can come to it time and time again and still get lost, still find new details to enchant and enthrall. Here, as well as the details, the six tracks of UMi melt into one great swirling soundscape, all majestic and magnificent like a cosmic wilderness of stars, nebulae and galaxies.
Given that the debut full length release from Lyla Foy topped our album of the year list for 2014, any follow up was going to be met with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Mirrors The Sky was so sublime, so wonderfully mesmeric and enchanting a listen, that maintaining those standards would surely be a challenge. When she shared “Beginning It All Again” a few weeks ago, all sense of trepidation washed away.
The lead single from her new EP, UMi, “Beginning It All Again” is like melted caramel, swirling enticingly, waiting for an apple to be dipped into its gooey goodness. The rest of the EP is equally gorgeous.
It’s heavy with emotion, a beautiful melancholy that wisps along like mist over a graveyard, especially on “Tiger” with its soft, ghoulish ebb and halloweeny flow. Here Lyla’s crystalline vocal feels laden with remorse as Lucy shines in the sky no more and instead is trapped in reality dreaming of an Alice like adventure once more into wonderland.
It’s haunting and gorgeous, like UMi itself in fact. Expect this to feature highly on our end of year list as well.
The ‘UMi’ EP is out now and available to buy from Lyla’s Bandcamp page.
Alphabet Bands 
yes indeed, rest in peace Lucy, with your diamonds and your sky. beautiful words 😉