Lully is surrounded by a curtain of mystery. There's the lack of personal details and the esoteric name — taken from a French Baroque composer who chose rather to die from gangrene in his foot rather than be unable to dance. Then there's the wordless collage of portraits that populates the artist's social media. But Lully's immediate, gut-punch take on electro-pop makes those enigmatic question marks feel irrelevant.
"Sans Chapeau" is the second catchy track from the artist, and is set for release as a double A-side with his debut "Slow D's," on Brixton-based label Aesop. Its rubbery bass synth line rides over a grunting beat, while Lully's lyrics tell a tale of regret. The door-opening sound effect that bookends the track is incredibly germane: Lully arrives with little prefacing, makes his statement with style and clarity, and leaves without another word.
When asked about his creative process on "Sans Chapeau," Lully shared a poem with The FADER, similar in structure to the one that accompanied his previous release:
Lully née Llull
Tutor'd Aragon rule
Straying never too far from the tankar'
Lully licentious
Cuckqueaned his fairest
The innocent Picany Bianca
But woke from the deepest
From something that creepeth
A vision of Jesus! Good Lord
He left his familials
For Franc’scan fraternals
Chastity now be restor'd
For, “What is mere marriage
But friable corsage?"
B’comes wilted when honesty speaks
In logical tables
Rhetorical fables
The celestial truths can be seek’d
His big old Ars Magna
Predicted 'kipedia
Silhoett'd beneath the ogive
In seas Medit’rranean
Then octogenarian
He resolv'd to fall on his glaive