WPKN's first live in-studio broadcast concert with CT avant-twanger, Lys Guillorn! https://www.lysguillorn.com/ Lys Guillorn is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and multi-disciplinary artist based in Shelton, Connecticut. They are of the same musical school as Laura Veirs, and Kristin Hersh, with a little Emmylou Harris thrown in: dreamy, lyric-driven, melodically interesting, and undefinable. They call their genre of music "Avant-Twang." Live sound is solo on electric or acoustic guitar, focusing on lyrics and intricate guitar work, or with full band, adding a little more crunch. Band members in Lys Guillorn & The Void Kittens are Lys Guillorn (vocals, guitar), Peter Riccio (drums, vocals), and Eric Bloomquist (bass, vocals). Guillorn has opened for artists including: Robyn Hitchcock, Danielle Howle, Richard Buckner, Laura Cantrell, Amy Rigby, Scout Niblett, The Handsome Family, and Nora O'Connor. Guillorn’s eponymous debut CD was released in 2003, receiving international radio airplay and notice in indie press. The CD was produced and engineered by Jeff Feuerzeig (best known as director of the films The Devil and Daniel Johnston and Author: The JT LeRoy Story). Feuerzeig enlisted guests Stanley Demeski (Luna, Feelies), Brenda Sauter (Feelies), Dean Wareham (Luna, Galaxie 500), Robert Quine (Voidoids, Lou Reed, Tom Waits) and Glenn Mercer (Feelies, Wake Ooloo). In the spring of 2006, Guillorn released the Three Songs EP; a trio of intricately arranged, original home-recorded tracks, packaged in a hand-letterpress printed cover. Guillorn's 2009 oddities collection Wayward Children pulls together their releases on compilations from various small indie labels, including originals, covers of Skip Spence, old English ballads, fragments, and other miscellany. Winged Victory was Lys Guillorn's first full-length studio record in ten years. It was recorded at Dirt Floor Studio in Chester, Connecticut with their bandmates and some special guests and released in November of 2013 on Guillorn’s own Little Cowgirl Records. Sunny Side Down was released in January of 2016, a 2-song single recorded with drummer Peter Riccio and bass player Eric Bloomquist at Bridgeport’s Gold Coast Recorders in the fall of 2015 and released in January 2016. This effort is described by Guillorn as “Nancy Sinatra on a grunge bender." I'm a Boy EP picks up where Sunny Side Down left off--garage rock with a live feel recorded at Cheshire's Bonehead Studios. This is the first recording documenting the four-piece as a band. Since 2017, Lys Guillorn has released several singles including 2019’s, “Chipped Fingernails”, released on February 1, 2019 in a split single with Julie Beman and “Dolores & I” released on the 2020 compilation Waiting on a Sunrise Volume 1 on Free as Birds Records. In addition to being a songwriter and performing musician, Guillorn is also a writer and visual artist.
