We were shipwrecks --- Ilia --- 2011 (Self-released)
I don't often copy-and-paste directly, but I am so impressed by this introduction and mission statement that I feel it needs to be read verbatim, as the band wrote it. So, from their MySpace page:
ilia, which members currently consist of Jessica Frizzell on drums, Melissa Newman on guitar, and Brittney Mosher on vocals and guitar, is not just a band. Ilia is a response to what a few passionate individuals see, feel, and perceive around them. We believe there should always be a purpose in whatever you do. There must be sincerity, drive, intentionality. So as ilia progressed into something more than just a band leading youth worship, we felt that as the band got serious, so we should seriously think about why we thought we were called to travel throughout the world playing the music we wrote. It's not that we think we are innovative or impressive in what we do, though we believe that excellence is what we should always strive for. Our passion is that we want to see people changed.
The world is slowly being suffocated by Media. Media tells us that we are not skinny enough, we aren't strong enough, we aren't attractive enough. Our success is based on how big our TV is, what kind of cars we own, how much money is in our bank account, and how many people come to our shows. It's lies are constantly and consistently burned into us and it feeds us it's poison one drop at a time until we finally collapse; empty and taken advantage of and wondering how this happened and why it is happening us.
We are surrounded by people, all different, all unique. We constantly evaluate and determine a person's value by what they are wearing, what they look like, how they act and what they do. We deal with feelings of mistrust, the fear of rejection, the pain of what goes on at home behind closed doors and it is all carefully and neatly hidden behind metal skin. Sometimes our inner selfs leak out and we try to cover it up with a laugh or a smile or a well placed joke. Or sometimes we lash out taking our frustrations and pain and misery out on the people around us, because hurt people hurt people.
Our human condition is desperate. We are lonely and broken and do not have the strength to fix ourselves and are too afraid or proud to ask for help. We have this hole inside us that we so desperately try to fill with anything that will pour inside but it's no use, we find ourselves searching for something else. So we stand with arms crossed and hardened features daring someone, pleading for someone, to break past our defenses and find our souls within.
There is something so appealing about someone that is real isn't there? Truly real. They refuse to believe the lies that Media or anyone else tries to shove down their throats. They were shipwrecks, if you will, but they are hopeful of a different future that Media is causing the world to fall too. They stand tall, beautiful, authentic; broken but mending. They are honest about their faults, but are not controlled by them and instead of succumbing to the darkness they fight towards the light; they are fighting to find what it means to be human again. We are striving to be those people. This is why our new EP is entitled We Were Shipwrecks.
Our hearts, our ears, our arms are yours. We are just as broken as you. We hurt and go through things just like you and would never try to lie to you saying that we don't. We are not above you. We are not below you. We are beside you. We write and perform and connect so that maybe it would speak to you in some way that would invoke change, hope, action, or the lifting of burdens in you.
This is who we are. We are lovers. we are Truth Seekers. We are Freedom Fighters. Our canvas is the world and our paint is music and melody and we will paint it with Truth, Love, Hope, and Justice.
This says more about this band than I ever could. A trio of ladies, Ilia appear, on the surface, to be either a Christian Rock band or one certainly associated with such types, but I don't think they deserve to be so easily pigeonholed, and definitely you should not shy from listening to their music just because of that, if it offends or turns you off. As I found out with Narnia, you don't have to be a believer to enjoy the music, and Ilia don't make the mistake of trying to convert you by singing about how great God is.
Another thing I don't do that often is review EPs, and this only has five tracks, if you discount the two live and acoustic versions of two of the songs already on the EP. So probably a short review, but in these days of bands who just get together to make money and appear on the TV or in magazines, it's refreshing to meet a group who seem to actually care about their music, and more, who want to try to communicate the importance of the music and their own view on the modern world to their listeners.
Okay, so the album starts powerfully, on a heavy note with crashing guitars and thumping drums as “Ezekiel” opens proceedings, frontwoman Brittney Mosher on vocals and guitar, aided by Melissa Newman also on guitar, while Jessica Frizzell occupies the drumseat. There's a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm about this song, growling, pounding guitars and an impassioned, determined vocal from Mosher, and as a mission statement they couldn't really have done better, declaring
”We were never meant to die/ So resuscitate us!”
The title track then is a little more restrained, still with those heavy guitars and powerful hooks, Brittney Mosher's vocal a little less angry and incensed on this, and it's a real anthem which no doubt captures the imagination of their audience when played live. Mosher definitely has a powerful voice, very distinctive, but I'd like to hear what it's like when she tackles a ballad or slower song. There's a certain feel of country, or country-rock about “Reaching”, with Mosher stretching her voice above an almost Edge-like guitar from Melissa Newman. “Fall on us” is a mid-paced rocker, with some nice backing vocals and a very commercial sound that would make a decent single, some quite restrained guitar and a really good beat.
And all too soon it's over, as “We will rise”, surely another statement of intent, if not a prophecy soon to be fulfilled, takes us out in a gentle ballad with superb jangly guitar, inspired percussion and a soulful vocal from Mosher that just oozes emotion and sincerity. Actually not fully a ballad --- it gets a little heavier in the middle, with sharp, angry guitar --- but definitely the slowest and most appropriately balladic track on this short album, and a great little closer.
It's hard to judge a band on the basis of such a brief encounter, but within five tracks I've already grown to like Ilia, and I can see that the words on their MySpace page are not just words, they are a statement of intent, a philosophy and an absolute belief. On the strength of this offering, I can't wait till their first full-length album is released.
TRACKLISTING
1. Ezekiel
2. We were shipwrecks
3. Reaching
4. Fall on us
5. We will rise