With a soft kaleidoscope of warm sounds and textures, Lilac Thief - the moniker for Adelaide singer-songwriter Joshua Julian - posits and explores the question: "what does bittersweetness sound like?"
With inspirations ranging from more closely related singer-songwriters such as Vienna Teng and Iron & Wine, to classical stalwarts like Bach and Beethoven, to heavier sources of inspiration such as Sleep Token, Every Time I Die, and Thrice, Lilac Thief keeps his tastes diverse in his journey to uncover just what it takes to tug heartstrings and move people through music alone. The result of this alchemy of influences is an introspective, at times energetic, often melancholic melting pot of sound and atmosphere.
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A Mortal Garden - Lilac Thief's Debut EP
THE SOUND OF BITTERSWEETNESS
On January 20, 2023, Lilac Thief released his debut EP "A Mortal Garden" - a five-track meditation on the melancholy of bittersweetness. Including both previously released singles of "take care." and "When Insomnia, Do As The Somniacs Do", "A Mortal Garden" ties these tracks together with haunting EP opener "great nothing", short acoustic guitar romance piece "Romance in E: "Bloom"", and the beautiful, tender closing track "The Lilac Thief". The journey of "A Mortal Garden" is a sonic sliding scale from the "bitter" side of bittersweetness to the "sweet", bound in a 5 song bouquet
A highlight from the EP is the namesake closing song "The Lilac Thief", a delicate acoustic track about the bittersweet melancholy of nostalgia inspired by Kathryn Nicolai's short story of the same name. In the story, the protagonist admires some beautiful and sweetly-smelling lilacs in bloom and picks some of the flowers, only to learn that lilacs wilt and lose their beauty very quickly once picked. They are, then, flowers best appreciated in the moment and in passing, and then left alone, no matter how much you may want to keep them for your own.
The beauty and soft sadness of this transience, and how it is hard to let go of the moments that we treasure most, defines "The Lilac Thief" as a song, and Lilac Thief as an artist.
"A Mortal Garden" is available everywhere now on all major platforms.
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LILAC THIEF'S DEBUT SINGLE
take care.
WHEREVER I AM, YOU'RE WELCOME
WHEREVER YOU, ARE I'M HOME
On April 1st, 2022, Lilac Thief released his debut single "take care." and introduced the world to his brand of bittersweet pop. Recorded at Island Studios with renowned Adelaide producer Joseph Cheek, "take care." is a retrospective love song; a song that simultaneously accepts, mourns, and celebrates a love that has come to its natural end point. With warm and cyclical fingerpicked guitar, lush vocal layering and grand instrumentation, delicate lyrical work, and an accompanying music video (shot by Adelaide photographer Angus Northeast) that showcases Lilac Thief alone and distant amongst Adelaide's beautiful scenery, "take care." is a celebration of the ephemeral, a reminder that all good things come to an end, a confident first impression, and an insight into what we can expect from Lilac Thief's upcoming debut EP "A Mortal Garden".
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LILAC THIEF'S 2nd SINGLE
"WHEN INSOMNIA, DO AS THE SOMNIACS DO"
MELANCHOLIC MIDNIGHT MUSINGS
"When Insomnia, Do As The Somniacs Do" is Lilac Thief's genre-hopping reflection on his constant battle with sleeplessness, how it makes him feel, and how it warps the way he sees the world around him. Where his previous single "take care." showcased the sweeter side of bittersweetness, "Somniacs" leans more heavily into the bitter with a midnight lament on being trapped in your own fatigue and watching the world pass you by.
"Somniacs" showcases Lilac Thief's remarkable ability to merge his varied range of influences into a totally special and refreshing sound, with acoustic guitar harmonics and lush strings playing over ambient synth swirls and a liquid DnB beat, interplay with vocoder-like vocal harmonies, a Beethoven musical motif reference and capped with a sudden hit of distorted guitars at the breakdown, making for a truly unique melancholic alternative pop experience.
