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Ditch Lily's double vision

Local indie folk/rock band Ditch Lily starts the year with a double album release.
Ditch Lily cover art for 2025 release "Setting the Table"

Ditch Lily cover art for 2025 release "Setting the Table" /Ditch Lily

Ditch Lily cover art for 2025 release "My Favorite Miniature Drum"

Ditch Lily cover art for 2025 release "My Favorite Miniature Drum"

A double album is a tricky feat for even the most established artists. Where does one draw the line between excess and edits? With the Grand Rapids-based indie band Ditch Lily, their double albums, My Favorite Miniature Drum and Setting the Table, feel more like a duology: a set of two intersecting narratives that intertwine as well as they stand on their own.

“It was originally supposed to be one album and then we kept adding more to the list. Eventually, we were at 17 or 18 [songs]. Then, when we got close to having all of those recorded, I ended up having, like, five more,” said lead singer James Champion. “I was like, ‘I feel like these are all in the same universe.’ So, Johnson just put up with me.”

Johnson Cochran is the producer behind the two albums and plays guitar in the band. 

Ditch Lily’s lineup solidified throughout the albums. Champion, who plays guitar, and Leah Sienowski, who plays violin, split the vocals. Zac Abid plays the drums. Mackenzie Carlson plays bass. Willem Mudde contributes the accordion to “My Favorite Miniature Drum” and Lil J. Rich provides the guest vocals.

 “Through the two albums, there’s a love story that happens and then falls apart. I tried to end it in a way that suggested that I’m going to keep on torturing myself like this, but with hope,” Champion laughed. “There are little references to an oven mitt or a $30 bottle of wine that are threaded through all of my albums. They’ve become like symbols for me.”

The albums are tied together lyrically, with the last song on the first album referencing the first song on the second. 

I feel like My Favorite Miniature Drum is a fairly honest portrayal of what the ‘band’ Ditch Lily sounded like in 2024. There are a few collaborations, but it's mostly Ditch Lily at its thematic, dynamic core,” Cochran said. “I focused on making the songs sound like how I heard them when we played live.” 

“Bucket Full of Moon” feels like the entry point into the Ditch Lily cannon. The song is texturized by Sienkowski on the violin. There’s a jangly indie rock beat that propels the song forward. 

Champion played guitar throughout his 20s but didn’t start writing songs until a few years later. He cites early Modest Mouse and Told Slant as lyrical inspirations. Champion’s lyrics, like the poets he admires, Ellen Bass and Emily Dickinson among them, make no effort to delineate the sacred moments from the mundane ones. Champion’s songwriting is visually rich. There is an entire world of images and symbols that populate the songs on both records: frozen waterfalls, geese, trilliums and the poems of Mary Oliver all make an appearance.

“I started writing songs because I wanted a third outlet for writing. When I was in undergrad, I was writing stories and poems. I thought that if I had a third option, my writing would free up and feel less stiff in both of those genres,” Champion said. “So for a while, I’d just write the lyrics first, or I’d have a chord progression with lyrics. But more and more it’s the melody now.”

For the second album, Setting the Table, the band decided to go for a more lo-fi feel.

 “It’s less polished on purpose. There were a lot of clicks and pops that we left in people's voices after the recording was over. I thought it was nice to have a blurry cellphone picture for the album art,” said Cochran.

As a producer, Cochran prefers to let the sessions unfold naturally without his input. 

“The fun for me is catching the unpredictable greatness that occasionally springs out of musicians, people who are usually just friends or acquaintances who surprise you with astonishingly beautiful moments. I stay out of the way unless I think they can do something better - it's their vision, not mine. I'm just their first audience member,” he explained.

The band recorded their parts separately most of the time. The records were mastered by Andrew Clarkson in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Ditch Lily celebrated the albums release with a sold-out show at the Stray on Jan. 10. The packed crowd was undeterred by the winter storm warning, braving snow-covered highways for the three-band bill. One of the truly remarkable aspects of Ditch Lily is their ability to cultivate community through their shows. Champion, in particular, has a knack for bringing people together. In addition to playing music with Ditch Lily, Champion organizes the yearly benefit concert Woodstock Fest.

“The community they've created at Woodstock makes musicians and everyone who attends feel safe and welcomed. We have been so lucky to be part of it, and it's been cool to see that community extend beyond the October event. It's really a huge part of the GR scene,” said local musician Garrett Stier, who plays drums in the band Phabies.

For the release show, Ditch Lily once again shared the stage with indie-folk duo The Spurs, who opened the 2024 Woodstock. Seeing the Spurs on a bigger stage emphasized the power behind the two-person band. Much like their often-cited inspirations, The Moldy Peaches, The Spurs’ lyrics have a subtle bite. Sometimes the lyrics are coy, like in “Jesus Does the Dishes.” Other times, Simone Pennock’s lyrics act as a call to action. Throughout their set, Pennock encouraged the crowd to educate themselves about the ongoing genocide in Palestine, even if they didn’t know where to start. Pennock let the crowd know that they would be around after the show to talk and provide resources.

Emma Bienewicz followed with a tight indie pop set. The guitar tone was crystalline, coupled with Bienewicz’s honest lyricism. Bienewicz chatted with the audience and her band between songs; noting that she almost slipped a “defying gravity” reference into one of her songs about holding space.

Ditch Lily took the stage around 8:30 p.m., with each band member wearing dots and swirls of red face paint. They opened with the lead single from My Favorite Miniature Drum, “Bucket Full of Moon.” 

That night at the Stray, I was struck by how much fun the band seemed to be having together onstage. As a project, Ditch Lily has always excelled at drawing out the strengths of its members, producing a dynamic sound that effortlessly merges folk and indie rock.

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