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Photo by Aaron Kohn

Picture this: you’re young, maybe like 10-12, and all you’ve ever wanted was to be in a band. Every band wants to be known for something, and wonders what it is they’ll get famous for if they ever do, but what’s truly rare is coming into contact with a band that doesn’t sound like they’re afraid of what happens if they actually get there. That’s where Liily comes in on WAX, the major-label debut for Atlantic Records, the Los Angeles four-piece take their restless blend of rock melody, punk and hardcore intensity, and glitchy electronics and aim it inward, turning ambition, anxiety, and the nagging need for approval into nine tracks that are as messy and honest as they are loud. 

Liily, consisting of Charlie Anastasis on bass, Sam De La Torre on guitar, and Maxx Morando on drums, came to life in the San Fernando Valley, and the story reads just like your favorite 2000’s coming of age movie. Maxx and Sam were childhood friends writing together, with Charlie joining after meeting Maxx in a music theory class at Catholic school, and Dylan, a friend of Charlie’s from Little League, brought the lineup to its final form. 

The gang rehearsed in a garage, played backyards across LA, shared beds on tour, and even recorded in an Airstream during COVID. Charlie has Maxx’s name tattooed across his knuckles actually, along with ink for Sam and Dylan, so when they say they’re brothers they actually mean it. Since then, there have been the EP I Can Fool Anybody In Town and a 2024 self-titled EP, plus arena openings for Weezer and blink-182, tours with FIDLAR and Together Pangea, and stages at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. As they put it themselves, they’re turning their dreams into a reality, and I’d say they’re crushing it. 

WAX was recorded at Balboa Recording Studio with producer Danny Noguiera, and the band’s approach was refreshingly simple. Instead of forcing the songs into a particular identity, they gave each idea room to become whatever it wanted, asking what each song itself actually needed. Kind of introspective, right? That openness really runs through these tracks with the pull between self-criticism and self-repair at the heart of it all. You can really feel this record pulling at itself, but trying (and succeeding) to hold a message together. 

Opening up with “Spider,” it boasts these airy vocals, with this heartbeat-like percussion that definitely draw you in and even though the song never really feels like it fills out. There's a strange, almost operative quality the track gives off. “Forever,” which follows as the lead single, is an anxiously jittery, “I just had too much coffee” moment. Opening up on a breathless internal monologue rolling into a jittery beat with groaning bass and glitching electronics, it feels more complete. When the distorted riff kicks the whole thing into overdrive and Dylan lets out a scream, you really feel like this project is about to take off into the next gear. It’s a great addition to WAX's tracklisting that’s about impermanence and the possibility that the music may or may not last, and about the fact that the love of making it is the only thing that really matters after all. I really like that we’re seeing more of this theme in music, artists appreciating the journey instead of the product, and I truly think it makes for a more honest band you can get behind. 

Another one of my favorite moments on this project is “Everyday,” which slows this pace and leans into more weight which I thought initially would make me feel antsy and like this project is moving too slowly, but with this evocative bassline, lumbering drums, and flashes of feedback building toward a refrain about feeling like you’re failing at everything, every single day, the track ends up being surprisingly good at tugging on your heart strings. It’s the sound of someone who’s always giving everything and still coming up short, which made me feel like they wrote this about me. Is this play about us? 

What really makes WAX work is that it doesn’t tie anything up, because that’s really the way life works. Sometimes, things don’t work out, or at least not immediately. Ambition, disappointment, anxiety, and grief are all here and they don’t have to end tidily, kind of like reading a book that makes you want more in the end or a cliffhanger on your favorite show that makes you angry it’s over but excited for next week. Dylan calls this the band’s stab at honest art, and that’s a great way to put it. You may not predict every turn, but you’ll hear something real, and on WAX, these four sound more open, instinctive, and self-assured, than they ever have. 

Listen to 'WAX' below: