I can’t recall whether it was Christmas or Easter when I first heard Lily Somerville sing. I do recall, however, that it was some six or seven years ago, at St John’s Church in Tamworth and it was during one of the major church services of the Catholic year.
Lily, who was around 14 years old at the time, is the daughter of a close friend of mine whom I first met at St John’s. My friend is massively musical; she plays in the church folk group and can happily lead musical evenings at home.
Her late mother, in turn, was so musical that when she passed away, the family donated a piano to the church in her memory.
Lily, then, has music in her blood - and in her voice. On that evening, I sat captivated as she performed the most remarkable solo of church music for a girl of her age. “She’ll go far,” I thought.
Six or seven years later, her musical journey has taken her to the University of Falmouth in Cornwall, where she is studying for a degree in popular music - and this post is a shameless plug in an effort to get her and her new musical partner one step further up the ladder.
After that evening at St John’s, Lily went off my radar as she completed her school studies; but then, in early-2012, she started to post regularly on Twitter and Facebook as one-half of Lily and Meg, the group she had just formed with a fellow Falmouth student, Londoner Megan Markwick.
I watched and listened with increasing interest as they told of new songs they had written and of gigs they were planning around Cornwall. They wrote haunting modern-folk melodies and the voice which had so captivated me on that evening in church came back into my brain - this time, with an equally-impressive partner in the shape of Meg.
I liked their Facebook page, followed them every day - and then something quite remarkable happened. As editor of British Naturism magazine, I discovered that there was space for additional entertainment in the programme at Nudefest (British Naturism’s week-long summer event in June at Newperran in Cornwall, less than 30 miles from Falmouth).
Could they? Would they? How would the daughter of a friend I knew purely through church react to the chance to play at a naturist event?
I decided to approach her mum first. If she said ‘No’, all bets were off. But she didn’t. She quickly replied that it was an interesting proposition and that she would put it to Lily and Meg.
Within days, they got back to me - the show was on.
In fact, it became two shows. The original schedule only called for them to be a brief part of the entertainment at BN’s visit to the Eden Project on the opening night of Nudefest. Yet they were so well-received and so unfazed at playing before an audience of naturists that we asked them back to perform on the final night, at Newperran itself.
A little context is required here. Newperran has a bar/lounge, which we clear to make way for the disco equipment and dancefloor area. I’ve no doubt it’s tightly-packed on most weekend nights in the summer. On the final night of Nudefest, there are 250-300 naked people chatting, laughing, drinking, dancing. As I have said to ‘textile’ friends, once you have been to a naturist disco, you will never want to go to a disco clothed again.....
You could call it a daunting atmosphere in which to perform, then. But Lily and Meg, who had never been among a group of naturists until six days previously, were magnificent.
That crowded room fell silent for 35 minutes as they performed to what must have been one of the biggest audiences of their career so far - and they and the bar staff were the only clothed people in the room.
They weren’t even fazed when offered an encore alongside a naked band. It was a remarkable performance which I know won them a tremendous number of admirers.
Since then, they have written plenty more new songs, toured around Britain, produced an EP of their best music and I recently saw them play a fine set for a discerning (clothed!) audience at the Yardbird in Birmingham - one of the city’s best-respected venues for up-and-coming bands.
It looks as if 2013 could be a great year for Lily & Meg. So get along to their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/lilyandmeg?fref=ts and buy their EP at http://lilyandmeg.bandcamp.com/. If they are in your area, go and see them. As for British Naturism, we are hopeful of seeing them again at least once in 2013. They sent me a Christmas card last week, thanking BN 'for showing us such support and giving us the most unique gig opportunities we've had to date!"
Aren’t some of life’s journeys remarkable? I have a feeling that this one still has quite a way to go...
