Lily & Madeleine grow up, stay grounded

Folk sister act Lily & Madeleine drew comparisons to fellow ethereal flower crowning duet First Aid Kit with their debut EP “The Weight of the Globe” and the 2014 followup, “Fumes, from Sufjan Stevens‘ Asthmatic Kitty Records. The (then) teenagers, Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz, toured the world, released a couple of videos and were able to make waves, making fans out of cool girl pubs like Rookie Magazine and ELLE.

Now the Indianapolis natives are back with a third album “Keep It Together” out Friday from New West Records and a subsequent tour.We grabbed them at home before they hit the road.

Are there any noticeable differences in “Keep It Together” from “Fumes”?

Madeleine Jurkiewicz: It’s our for project with New West [Records] in Nashville and the writing process was different for us this time around. Instead of collaborating on everything, we separated and wrote in different places. That was new for us and means listeners can tell our individual styles. Like, this is more of a Madeleine track or this is more of a Lily song.

How can you tell the difference between a Lily track or a Madeleine track?

Lily Jurkiewicz: Well, a Madeline track is a little more of a narrative and more dramatic lyrically, and Lily is a single stream of thought and a little more direct.

MJ: We don’t consciously write that way.

LJ: And it’s not like she can write like me. It’s just how it usually works out.

Any reason you chose to record in Indiana?

LJ:It’s cheap and really easy, because our people live out here.

MJ: Yeah, all our musicians live close or in Bloomington.

And you have an all-female band, which is cool. Did that enhance the vibe at all?

LJ:I don’t know if it was the fact that they were females, or that they were just our really good friends. With our producer [Paul Mahern] there was just the four of us, versus last album where we’d have ten people in a room. It was too many voices.

MJ:This was really easy and streamlined.

You started out so young and gained a pretty youthful audience, do you think you’re still singing to that same crowd?

LJ:I don’t feel like I’m trying to sing to a certain group necessarily, but I’m just trying to express my personal experiences and thoughts. I’m a young white female, and maybe other young white females will connect.

It’s an interesting time to be a young female artist in this industry — like are you following what’s happening to Kesha?

LJ:Yeah, it’s so infuriating.

Do you think it’s easier or harder for artists right now?

MJ:I think being a young artist at a time where the internet is controlling everything is good in a way, because you’re able to share so much. But it’s easy to get swept up when everything is hyped up and crowded. I feel like you need to sift through and know who you are in order to not be overwhelmed or taken advantage of.

Are there advantages?

MJ:Oh definitely.

LJ:There’s more opportunity to connect personally, like you don’t have to wait until an article comes out to communicate with your fans. You can just post something online and speak to them directly.

If you go:

Boston
March 2 at 8 p.m.
The Red Room @ Cafe 939
939 Boylston St, Boston
(617) 747-6042
berklee.edu/red-room-cafe-939

New York
March 3 at 9:30 p.m.
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St, New York
(212) 539-8778
publictheater.org/en/Joes-Pub-at-the-Public/

Philadelphia
March 4 at 8 p.m.
World Cafe Live Upstairs
3025 Walnut St, Philadelphia
(215) 222-1400
philly.worldcafelive.com