‘Synth-Pop’ at The Cabin

Lillie Lemon puts electronic twist on usual acoustic sound

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Photo by Hannahy Pitzl

Erica Wobbles and Lillie Lemon sing their song “California Drifting” for the crowd Friday night at The Cabin.

Based out of Monterey, Calif., duo Lillie Lemon presented a unique, electrifying sound on Friday and Saturday evenings in The Cabin using electronic synthesizers as their main instruments.

Before becoming a “synth-pop” group, lead singer Lillie Lemon worked mostly with acoustic based music until the duo’s first album began to evolve into more electronic music using vocal looping, a drum machine and synthesizers. A synthesizer is typically operated by a keyboard and creates a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies.

“We call ourselves an electronic band for acoustic audiences,” Lemon said.

Lillie Lemon opened the show at around 8 p.m. to a crowd of about 15 with a song called “Sad Machine” about a robot who falls in love with the last man on Earth, and then is left sad when the man finds a woman who has survived.

Lemon displayed her love for songwriting from the very beginning of the duo’s performance.

“People have a hard time picturing an electronic artist that is also a good songwriter and that the song is catchy and well written,” Lemon said.

The duo’s second song was very different than the first and was entitled “California Drifting.” Lemon explained that when she first arrived in California, she found it “terrifying” and that this particular song was written about the earthquakes there.

Throughout the entire performance, Lemon and her partner Erica Wobbles explored a variety of different songs but brought them together using all of the same instruments. In addition to performing original songs, they also played covers of songs such as “Kids” by MGMT and “Style” by Taylor Swift.

Lemon explained how the equipment worked, and she used humor to smoothly transition between each song, attempting to educate and interact with the crowd.

Lemon said she and Wobbles are currently on tour until September and as they travel they are also scoping out potential places that they want to move to. Lemon said California is very expensive, and it is difficult to find an area secluded enough to work on their music.

As they tour, Lemon said the duo hopes to share their music with unfamiliar ears and audiences.

“We have fans that are in their 50s and 60s that for some reason really like what we’re doing,” Lemon said. “These are people that do not listen to electronic music at all, so we’re trying to bridge the gap.”

Even though no more than 15 audience members attended, the duo bounced through the entirety of their performance filling the empty spaces of The Cabin.