THE BLSSM, Photograph: Imogen Wilson
The music Lily Lizotte makes as THE BLSSM is at once familiar and alien. The Sydney-born, LA-based songwriter and producer released their third EP, PUPPY BREATH, in early May. The five-song collection builds on the motley pop sound of 2021’s 97 BLOSSOM and 2022’s PURE ENERGY, matching slowcore and shoegaze sounds with SoundCloud rap, 90s pop-rock and the brute force hooks of FM radio rock.
As with all previous THE BLSSM releases, Lily’s dad, Mark Lizotte, played a central role in the production of PUPPY BREATH. Along with contributing guitar, Lizotte – who’s better known to Australian audiences as Diesel – co-produced or co-wrote the majority of songs on the record.
“We have a hyper-collaborative, very non-judgemental working relationship,” Lily tells Check Check, “and everything that we do is for the greater good and for the best of the project.”
THE BLSSM will make their Australian live debut at this year’s Vivid Sydney, sharing a bill with Forest Claudette at Tumbalong Park on Thursday 30 May. Check Check spoke to Lily about making PUPPY BREATH, arranging their disparate influences and working with their dad.
SEE ALSO: Forest Claudette: “It’s important that I stand for something”
Check Check: Were there any significant goals you took into the creation of PUPPY BREATH?
THE BLSSM: There were two projects before this one that I actually scrapped. I’m a very intuitive person and I only wanted to put out what I felt was the truest depiction of where I am sonically.
I can be easily influenced from so many different styles and so many different artists and genres, and this project, I think, is a perfect amalgamation of what people really love my project for and what I really love my project for. So, I kind of went around the world and then came back again to this.
Your recordings can be quite lo-fi and intimate but also far-ranging in genre. You convey confidence but you’re also self-deprecating and vulnerable. Are you conscious of combining these elements?
For the tapestry that is my sound, it takes a lot of intuitive freedom but at the same time, hyper-disciplinary practice. Like, writing and creating the sonic world with the producers that I work with, it’s kind of like, we try everything and we do everything but then it takes this discipline to bring it all together.
There’s a lot of noise in LA. Everyone’s always really excited or everyone hates their life or hates what they’re making or loves what they’re making. It’s just such a saturated environment but it’s an amazing place to work. But I really had to carve out what I wanted to do for this project and I think I’ve done that – which is to continue making what I’ve always made and do it really, really well.
From a creative point of view, what elements or characteristics define the music you make as THE BLSSM?
It’s my Achilles’ heel and my strongest suit that I make pop music. But at the same time, I needed to retain that idiosyncratic-ness to what makes my pop music unique and special, and that really is how volatile and intimate but also confident and abrasive but then vulnerable it is.
Making pop music is no joke, at least the type of pop music that I strive to make. It takes the right balance. And so, sometimes I’ll write a song and I’ll think, “This song isn’t for me, I shouldn’t put this out.” But I’m like, “This is such a great song, but I know that it should be for another artist.” That’s where it takes discipline and to be like, OK, not everything that I make should be for my project.
That’s really hard because I love writing all different kinds of songs and I love putting pop music into different contexts of genres.
Your dad is Mark Lizotte – aka Diesel – and he writes with you and has played guitar on all your releases so far. What’s it like working so closely with your dad?
When we work together, it’s completely like an artist-to-artist relationship. We have a hyper-collaborative, very non-judgemental working relationship, and everything that we do is for the greater good and for the best of the project.
He’s so incredibly artistically professional that he has never, ever overstepped or injected any of his agenda. He tells me his opinions but we talk to each other as if he’s a producer and a contributor to the project instead of, like, “I’m your father.”
When people work with us, sometimes we won’t tell them that we’re related and then they figure it out towards the end and they’re like, “What?” because our dynamic is just like… we’re creative soulmates. It’s like, regardless of him being my dad, I would have him included in the project because his guitar is such an integral part of the project.
So, you’re very much on the same wavelength?
I remember I was playing PURE ENERGY to Kenny Beats at Shangri-La in Malibu. He listened to it and first thing he said was, “I know that’s not you playing guitar. I know that’s your dad because your dad plays all the guitar on your records, but I could swear that it feels like it’s you.” He’s like, “There’s so much synergy between you and your dad that it sounds like you playing it.” That was a big compliment.
