Open the Door is the debut album from London songwriter Tilly Scantlebury (they/them) as Lazy Day. Bold and bright indie rock with a canny ear for a hook - the project, now ten years old, feels as though it reaches full fruition here. In the process, it marks Scantlebury out as a fresh, singular voice and a real one to watch.
It follows EPs including 2017’s Ribbons and 2019’s Letters - early releases that saw them heralded by critics as “A lo-fi dream pop force to be reckoned with” (Under the Radar) and “combining the introspection of Elliott Smith, the reverb-drenched resonance of Slowdive and the wonky pop sensibility of Kate Bush” (Noisey). Their first studio album remains dazzlingly Lazy Day, with the volume and saturation turned all the way up.
Initially written and demoed in Scantlebury’s home studio, Open the Door was made in bursts throughout 2021 and into the beginning of 2022, at The Institute of Sonic Architecture in west Wales, co-produced with Gethin Pearson (Kele Okereke, Charli xcx, Whenyoung). While most of the instrumentation is handled by Scantlebury, drums across the record were performed by Dave Newington of Boy Azooga, with rotating Lazy Day cast members including bassist Kris Lavin and former drummer Beni Evans also appearing. The only voice other than Scantlebury’s on the album, however, is their wife El’s – on recent single ‘Bright Yellow’, described as “a riveting pop statement” (Clash) and “a perfect summer anthem” (The Telegraph).
Newly married, out as non-binary, and with a completed PhD under their belt, Open the Door finds them occupying their queerness and its constant evolution (questions are posed, answered, left open; “I” and “you” mean something slightly different on each song), and finding validation in that. They are happiest in the domestic (as we hear on upcoming single ‘Squirm’), exploring all the corners of their identity, from masculinity to their Jewishness (recent single ‘Killer’; ‘All The Things That I Love’), and keen to steer the ship, by motivating their loved ones and listeners alike (as on ‘Strangest Relief,’ when they sing: “Take the good when it’s found / I just want you around / Getting stronger”).
In the end, the message is clear. Step into the world. Open the door.
TRACKLIST:
