Pleased To Meet Me: Lillian King
Lillian King is a singer from Chicago whose guitar technique comes from the Americana folk tradition but whose songwriting comes from staring at the lake for too long. She is releasing her debut album In Your Long Shadow on October 24th on Pronounced Kroog.
Introduce yourself… (Where are you from, what band do you play in etc..)
My name is Lillian King and I’m a musician in Chicago, Illinois.
Why do you play music?
I process a lot of emotions when I write music. When I write a song, I can get at the root of a feeling and present it to myself in a way that feels simple and beautiful. I just love singing too, it keeps me company during a quiet evening.
What was a major influence on you as an Artist/Band? What’s a favourite book or film?
I am really inspired by Mount Eerie and The Microphones, Arthur Russel, and Neko Case. I like books and movies about people out in the world on their own. Like Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall, or that awesome movie The Revenant.
Do you prefer the recording process or performing live? What would be a dream collaboration?
There’s something really intimate about recording, where you have to dive into the songs and you feel so exposed. But performing is just like, well, I hope my fingers work and I remember the words in a way that’s so thrilling and fun. So both have their merits. I would love to collab with Peso Pluma.
Describe a favourite album.
I have a lot of incredible memories of being down bad in college listening to Sufjan Stevens’ Age of Adz. When I was a first year student at McGill in my first Montreal winter, I would stand in the dark outside and listen to Impossible Soul as a way to unwind from whatever insane Russian novel I was reading. When an album ends with a super long song… I’m in. Sufjan played Impossible Soul at Pitchfork once and my sister and I locked in at the first chord and absolutely lost our minds.
What's your favourite local haunt?
I love eating beautiful pizza and sipping beautiful wine at Middlebrow. I love drinking a beautiful beer at Map Room. I love swimming in beautiful Lake Michigan.
What's your strangest experience while performing live?
When I was in a band in college we played one show in Ottawa at a pancake house and maybe ten people were there and two of them spent the whole set grinding and making out. It was amazing.
What are some of your favourite aspects of being a musician in (your city here)?
There are so many great musicians in Chicago, it’s constantly inspiring. Also Chicago is a perfect muse. It’s hard not to be inspired when you’re running through restored prairie or on an icy vast lake.
If you weren’t playing music in (your city here) where would you be ?
I would like to live in a moss covered house in a foggy place with more sheep than people. Like the island on The Banshees of Inisherin.
Any sage advice for young musicians?
Say yes to everything and be nervous and ask for things you think are out of reach.
From Spencer Krug, founder of Pronounced Kroog:
I first met Lillian in June of 2024, when she joined me on tour to open for a short run of solo shows. We became fast friends, and my appreciation for her songs grew as I listened to her perform them each night with nothing but an acoustic guitar and her singular voice. By the end of the tour, I told Lillian if she ever made a full-length album, Pronounced Kroog would be interested in putting out. A year later, here we are.
To date, Pronounced Kroog has only released projects revolving around my own music. I created the label simply to get my own work into the world, with no intention of signing outside artists. It wasn’t an idea I took seriously before hearing Lillian’s music. Now, Pronounced Kroog is proud to announce the release of “In Your Long Shadow,” to play a part in its delivery to the ears of all those who don’t yet know they’re fans, and to have Lillian King be the first-ever non-Krug project on the label.
Lillian King’s latest album In Your Long Shadow is out October 24th via Pronounced Kroog Records