Jill Tracy’s “The Secret Music of Lily Dale”

Posted : November 3rd, 2022

So I let October come and go without really posting anything to the Cult of the Great Pumpkin site this year – I was focused on the #FrightFall2022 daily drawing challenge, which just didn’t leave time for much else this year. I hope everybody had a super spooky October!

As we begin the two month grind that is “The Holiday Season”, Jill Tracy has stepped up to make it just a little more phantasmagoric with the release of “The Secret Music of Lily Dale”. I’ve been listening to it for the past hour or so and it’s mesmerizing, not only for the completely improved music, but for the circumstances under which she recorded it. From the release notes:

“A rare peek inside the famed little town that talks to the dead— with both sights and sounds. An unprecedented project, Jill Tracy reveals a sonic exploration of Lily Dale, the private community of mediums and Spiritualists in upstate New York. These are her elegant, mystical, late-night piano recordings channeled alone on an antique grand inside the 1883 auditorium, site of séances and spirit communication for over 100 years. Bask in the vast, otherworldly ambience, the magical Leolyn Woods, nighttime thunderstorms, Lily Dale’s beloved bells, chimes, and nature. During her nights alone at the piano, you’ll witness mysterious sounds that appeared on the recording that defy explanation. Beautiful, contemplative, and mysterious… be transported into a truly magical place few ever get to experience.”

Jill recorded the entire album on location in Lily Dale. Music was created spontaneously inside Lily Dale’s historic 1883 auditorium, after dark, on the auditorium’s original (circa 1990) grand piano. Along with the music you can hear the ambience of the atmosphere, which, at times, includes inexplicable sounds from within the theater (make of that what you will!).

“The Secret Music of Lily Dale” is available as both a physical and digital release and includes a 50 page booklet with photographs, history of Lily Dale, her experiences recording the album and more to help you immerse yourself in Miss Tracy’s tenebrous musical tour of the town.

Get it at https://jilltracy.com/the-secret-music-of-lily-dale!