They say that turmoil can help fuel an artist to come up with inspired work, and that may very well be the case for the longtime leader of Lilys, Kurt Heasley. Experiencing upheaval in his personal life, Heasley had to put his family ahead of finishing off the recording of Lilys’ eight release overall, Everything Wrong Is Imaginary. But Heasley came up with a plan — instead of spending long amounts of time in the studio, he was able to get the job done at home. Putting his vocals and guitar parts down on tape at his own studio, the tracks were then sent to producer Michael Musmanno (best known for working with hip-hop acts like OutKast), who filled in the missing spaces with various studio musicians. What you get is another quirky and eclectic Lilys set, which includes everything from laid-back funk (“A Diana’s Diana”) to up-tempo ditties that sound quite comparable to the Eels at times (the album opening “Black Carpet Magic”). Although Lilys is often thought of as a “one-man band,” Heasley appears to have found a worthy partner in crime with Musmanno, as evidenced by their collaborative work on Everything Wrong Is Imaginary. – Greg Prato