Video Premiere: Lia Ices, “Half Life”
- story Matthew Schnipper
Don’t wear jeans when it’s a billion degrees out, it makes seeing Lia Ices perform kind of impossible. Still, we tried Monday night when she premiered Simone Montemurno and Joanna Bovay’s video for “Half Life” and played a brief set at the Journal Gallery for a bunch of intimidatingly cool people. Fanciness or not, the pleasures of Lia Ices and “Half Life” and its video are simple—plain piano, surprising accordion, sad singing, pretty girls in white lace doing synchronized dances. There is something warmly Amish happening here. For a more urbane take on “Half Life,” watch Lia perform the song for FADER TV in an Upper West Side townhouse and, New York City, catch her tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Juana Molina.
Video Premiere: Lia Ices, “You Will”
- story THE FADER
Lia Ices spent some of her winter up north in Vermont, a state we are fond of. Have you been there? Her video for “You Will” is a piece by piece reminder of how you can fetishize everything when you don’t have to live in it: wallpaper, crystallized trees, mason jars, fires, snow boots, wool capes. Everything looks like it was plucked straight from a Woolworth home goods catalog from 1973. And Lia’s voice, too, if you could buy it. “You Will,” from her overlooked Necima of late last year, is a soft number full of hefty chorus and light forgiveness. Catch Lia Ices when she plays dates with Lonely Dear and Iron and Wine soon. And catch her late last summer in a big brick townhouse.
Freeload: Lia Ices, “Many Moons (Live In The Upper West Side)”
- story THE FADER
Two weeks ago we taped Lia Ices playing “Many Moons,” from her upcoming album Necima for us. We posted the video then (and it’s above, again) and now we have the mp3 from the performance to offer you. The album version of “Many Moons” is swathed in low cello but here—solo—Ices’ voice is lithe, not shaky but with a tentative confidence. “You should go out and I’ll stay in,” she says. We don’t think she means that. Mild sadness leads to artistic power. It’s a pretty song.
Download: Lia Ices, “Many Moons (Live In The Upper West Side)”
FADER TV: Piano Recital With Lia Ices
- story THE FADER
Lia Ices is a tiny woman with a big blues warble. Yesterday, at a luxurious Upper West Side townhouse, we taped for her for FADER TV as she tested out the keys and eased the pedals of the baby grand—no microphone or any other inorganic impediments—playing “Many Moons” from her upcoming album Necima.
