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Lithia are an indie-rock band from Chicago that we happened to discover (and we’re keeping the details to ourselves). They recently released a compelling new album (you can read our review here), and given how little information about them is available online, we thought it was the perfect time to get in touch. Sylvia Koch-Weser kindly answered our questions.
First of all, we need some basic information about Lithia as well—who are the members of the project, and how did it come about? From Bandcamp, it seems that everything revolves around Sylvia…
A few years back I was working under a solo songwriter name & decided that it felt like more of a full band project, so I recruited some musician friends to work through the songs to play live. That eventually became Lithia. Dylan Epling (guitar) is the only original member from those days. He and I worked closely on re-recording parts for this record. We’re now a 4 piece with Matt Mullen on drums, Dylan Epling on guitar, and Mike Larsen on bass. Playing as a full band has really changed the way I approach the songwriting process.
What really struck me is the project’s pop precision, which at the same time isn’t afraid to expand outward, bringing in influences that span across decades: certainly ’90s shoegaze, but also the American indie-rock revival of the late 2000s/early 2010s. What were you aiming to convey musically with “Pink House”?
We’re both always thinking of ways to bring tension into the song dynamically. I think we all have a shared goal for songs to be catchy but also feel dynamic & cathartic. I’m a big mid 2000’s indie rock fan, and Radiohead is a huge influence on both me and Dylan. I didn’t really think of genre when writing this record, but you can definitely hear both our influences on it. I think the most important thing is that I don’t get too in my head about that stuff. I just write whatever I’m feeling at the time, and in this case the songs just happened to flow together in a way that felt natural.
I demo’d most of these at the beginning stages of the band and really wanted them to have more energy once we got the drums/ bass recorded. Dylan is really good at crafting his parts in a way that gradually build up into his solos, so it never feels overplayed. His melodies compliment my vocal a lot of the time too. There’s a few slower songs on the record that take their time to build, but singles like “the mire” were more in an indie pop/art rock direction.
I feel that the melodies on “Pink House” are very carefully crafted. These days there’s a lot of talk about pop, but often more in terms of a kind of “AI-generated pop” rather than “songwriter-driven pop.” What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you! I feel like any memorable verse/chorus format/ catchy song can be considered a pop song. I really only know something I’ve written should be on a record if the chorus gets stuck in my head, and those usually end up being the singles. In my opinion, the only real threat AI has to music is oversaturation of platforms, which we’re already seeing. But unlike an artist, AI can’t take from its own lived experience. I think songwriting can be kind of embarrassing in the best way, because it’s vulnerable & messy. AI can’t reproduce that, because it’s not feeling or thinking originally (while most songwriters hopefully are). People will always be drawn to art made by humans BECAUSE it’s imperfect and is the result of personal experience.
The artwork—both for the single “The Mire,” released at the end of last year, and for the album—is very striking, almost like a painting. I have to admit it immediately caught my attention and was the reason I first listened to you. In my review I mentioned your explanation behind the choice, but perhaps what wasn’t emphasized is that you yourselves seem absent from the image… do you see yourselves as a kind of “ghost presence”?
A big theme on this record was alienation. I think in some ways the pink house acts as a mirror. We were thinking about using the single art from the mire as the full album cover, but agreed that the house alone felt more intriguing. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the cover now (the story behind the house, etc) which personifies it even more. Before it was torn down a year back, it was an urban legend to all the locals.
With the single art for the Mire, I wanted it to look like I’d dropped from the sky, completely out of place. Maybe in some ways it’s more like the visual presence of a memory. I like that people have different theories on the album cover though- I’ve always seen music as a tool anyone can use to process and project their own feelings onto. That’s why we listen to music, right? I think it’s more interesting to leave things up to interpretation. The image gives me the feeling of an inevitable entropy. It’s what inspired the title track, before I even knew anything about it being a spite house.
In Italy, spaces for independent bands have drastically declined—if not disappeared altogether—in recent years. Meanwhile, it seems that venues in the U.S. are fortunately still holding on (at least from what I see through our Minneapolis correspondents at WeHeartMusic, who cover shows in the Twin Cities). What’s the situation like in Chicago?
Chicago has always been such a great space for bands to get their music heard. Lithia actually formed out of a DIY space our former bassist had for years out of his basement that eventually turned into a festival, so we all got our start that way. We’re fortunate to have a lot of smaller to midsize venues here who are all really supportive of bands coming up in the city.
Are there any videos in the works? Your songs feel very evocative in that sense…
I’m already thinking up videos for the next record, but probably won’t release any more for this one! It’s one of my favorite parts of the process though. I’ve learned to shoot on 8mm film, even though it’s insanely cost inefficient, but nothing can actually replicate that look. It’s exciting not really knowing how it’s going to turn out, and having limited shots forces me to plan out the vision beforehand.
Final question, driven by a fair amount of anticipation: can we hope for any European dates, and especially in Italy?
We’d love to tour Europe! It’s definitely more difficult as a self funded indie band, but we’d love to make it happen for the next record. Plus, I’ve always wanted to visit Italy. Making pasta from scratch in my kitchen isn’t enough anymore.
(Paolo Bardelli)