Photos courtesy of The Stargazer Lilies
Kim Field and John Cep, the core creative partnership behind The Stargazer Lilies, evoke a sonic world suspended between the evocative weight of memory and the abstraction of fantasy, imbuing every composition with an elemental sense of mystery.
Their sound is not merely a reflection of shoegaze’s past but a shimmering refraction, utilizing familiar textural elements like cascading guitars and reverb-drenched, ethereal vocals to articulate a distinctly contemporary vision that leans into ambient, doomgaze, and psychedelic pop. This duality, where the familiar is twisted into something both vast and intensely personal, defines their artistry.
As collaborators in life and music, Field and Cep extend a history established through their previous work in Soundpool, where they uniquely explored the intersection of shoegaze and electronic. Now, with their highly anticipated album, ‘Love Pedals’ (Little Cloud Records and Floravinyl Records), they deepen their exploration. The record reveals a new gravitas, moving with a palpable weight and textural complexity as celestial melodies coalesce with profound, fuzzed-out density. With both Soundpool and The Stargazer Lilies, they’ve contributed significantly to the shoegaze and dream-pop genres, building sonic worlds that bloom like flowers in slow motion.
The single, “Ambient Light,” offers a focused lens into this evolution: a slow-burning, hypnotic track where Kim’s voice floats with sublime detachment above John’s expertly manipulated, pitch-bending guitar work. This is music that transcends simple listening; it is an invitation for the listener to become an active traveler within a meticulously crafted sonic ecosystem.
Huge thanks to Kim and John for their time.
James Broscheid: ‘Love Pedals’ is described as “a rich, captivating, panoramic experience” and a record that “makes the familiar feel uncanny.” How would you describe the creative and emotional journey of making this album, and how does it compare to your previous work?
John Ceparano: The various instrumental parts of the tracks on this album were recorded probably over an entire decade. The later tracks on the album are some of the oldest and the tracks more toward the beginning are newer. The process has remained somewhat the same over the years. We’ve always had our creative space in our home studio where we create all of our material. However, our surroundings have changed as we have a new home in the subtropics of Florida. So you hear that coming out in a lot of the lyrics. Most of the lyrics and melodies have been created since moving into our new home in Winter Haven, FL.
JB: You’ve been in the music scene for some time, both as The Stargazer Lilies and previously with Soundpool. How has your approach to songwriting and production evolved over the years, particularly in how you balance the raw, emotional aspects of your music with the technical, sonic exploration?
JC: First of all, going from Soundpool to The Stargazer Lilies was a bit of a de-evolution. With The Stargazer Lilies our intent was to simplify with less parts. Soundpool was an intensely big machine. We wanted to strip things down and get back to a more organic raw vibe with TSL and also not have to rely on so many band members. This has freed us up to engage more with the emotional aspects of writing since it’s been basically the two of us who are long-time romantic partners. As far as our sonic exploration is concerned, with Soundpool the sound experiment was with guitars and different synths and a lot of machine-like dance beats. With The Stargazer Lilies the guitar and vocals have really taken over and basically, we’re just totally free to do whatever we feel like artistically.
JB: The album is a joint release on Little Cloud Records and Floravinyl Records. What was it like working with these two labels, and how did their collaboration influence the release of ‘Love Pedals’?
Kim Field: We got together with Little Cloud pretty much through good friends Tremours and we have a lot of mutual friends on the label. Floravinyl is our label which we released ‘Cosmic Tidal Wave’ on (2022). Floravinyl is really just involved to handle digital and eventual CD, cassette releases, etc. for ‘Love Pedals.’ Little Cloud is purely a vinyl-centric label and we felt they would just do a better job than us on that end. They have been totally great to work with, and we’re excited to have this release with them! We also collaborated with UK-based Shoredive Records who are distributing for EU & UK since shipping is not even practical from the U.S. for that market. So, we’re psyched about being available over there for the first time.
JB: The album starts with “Ambient Light,” which is described as a “new sound for the band—almost sludgy, driven by that busy bassline.” What led you to open the album with a track that introduces this new, heavier element, and how does it set the stage for the rest of the album?
JC: Honestly, “Ambient Light” just seemed like the attention getter because the guitars are just so intense and explosive. It didn’t really fit anywhere else but the opening to us. It sort of sets the stage for the listener to just know that we are exploring our sonic capacities on this album.
JB: John, One reviewer noted that your guitar work on “By Your Side” sounds like both a “choir and a space ship taking off.” Can you speak to your unique process for creating these ethereal and otherworldly guitar textures, and what specific gear or techniques were essential in achieving that sound on this record?
JC: I have two approaches to writing songs. One approach is more traditional where I take out an acoustic guitar, come up with a chord progression, lay down a basic idea and then build out a track from there. But the other way is to write with the guitar effects. Guitar effects can be both expanding and limiting in ways that force you to write in a particular style. On a song like “By Your Side” I went with the latter. The guitar sounds sort of dictated how the writing was going to build on that song. Specific effects included on that track were multiple delays, modulation and harmonizer. Which is the thing that probably makes it sound to one’s ear like what the reviewer was describing.
JB: “Perfect World” is identified as an album standout, taking the sound, you created on ‘Occabot’ (Red Cult, 2019), to new highs. Can you elaborate on the creative decisions and production choices that went into evolving that particular sound for this new track?
JC: It was not as intentional as it was just an organic thing that happened. We weren’t really trying to take the sound a step further or build on anything. The track has a fairly obvious (David) Lynch*ian / (*Phil) Spector influence which is somewhat thematic to our catalogue.
KF: Although John produced the tracks, we had the album mixed by James Aparicio. He definitely took the tracks a step further and put that “new angelic high” sort of vibe on the album.
JB: The album is filled with contrasting moods—from the claustrophobic and tender “By Your Side” to the brighter, more open “Shining Yellow.” How do you consciously navigate these shifts in emotional and sonic atmosphere when crafting the album’s sequence?
JC: Like any good album it should be a musical journey and should take the listener to places they weren’t expecting. Also, when arranging albums since we’ve been on vinyl centric labels from the beginning, we always design the sequence based on the 12” LP format. So, our intention was not to put “Shining Yellow” as the 4th track of the album but as the first track of Side B for example.
JB: The track “Trans Med” is described as a “sound ritual” and the boldest cut on the album. What was the inspiration behind this track, and what were you hoping to achieve by “breaking the dream open” for the listener at this point in the album?
JC: We wanted to do something that you don’t hear in shoegaze often which was a heavy blues tune. Bluegaze? Also, we wanted to write something more about a riff as opposed to a chord structure.
JB: The album closes with a radio edit of “Love Radio Show,” creating a deliberate bookend effect. What was the intention behind this choice, and what do you hope this repetition and subtle change communicates to the listener after their journey through the album?
JC: It was actually a total after thought. The album is distributed digitally without the bonus track, and the vinyl version doesn’t have the bonus track either. The vinyl version has the album version of the “Love Radio Show” single, whereas the album that is digitally distributed has only the radio edit. If you go to our Bandcamp which is the only place on the web where you can download the 24-bit vinyl master of the album, it automatically comes with the extra version of “Love Radio Show.” It seemed fitting since we picked it as one of the singles of the album. The two versions are mixed slightly different. The radio edit pushes the vocals. The studio version is obviously longer and more guitar heavy.
JB: As romantic partners and bandmates, how does your personal relationship influence your creative process? Does the intimacy and connection you share manifest directly in the music, particularly in tracks like “By Your Side”?
KF: “By Your Side” is actually lyrically a story about us being single in New York City and manifesting the meeting of each other. Which obviously did happen. I was actually getting into witchcraft at the time and really needing to not be alone in NYC which was extremely lonely. I actually had a pink candle shrine and was meditating daily about finding the perfect partner. I met John soon after starting this practice and we’ve been together for almost 28 years now! John at the time was seeing psychics and was in the same lonely state. We literally figured out that we were lunching at the same random vegetarian cafe on a regular basis but didn’t meet there. I think we were passing each other on the street but it took a lot of mental power to find each other and finally connect.
JB: Your music often blurs the lines between different genres, incorporating elements of ambient, doomgaze, and psych-pop. How do you approach this fusion of styles, and do you ever feel constrained by genre labels like “shoegaze”?
KF: I intentionally tried to create the most shoegaze album cover of all time (laughs).
JB: I read a review mentioning your music “consumes you, stretches you, leaves you disoriented in the best way.” Are these types of results meant to challenge the listener?
JC: I would say we completely immerse and challenge ourselves in the creative process. So, this probably translates to the listener’s experience being similar to our own.
JB: The Stargazer Lilies are celebrated for their contributions to the shoegaze and dream pop genres. Looking back at your career, what do you see as your biggest contribution or the most unique mark you’ve left on these genres?
JC: From our perspective this question is very difficult to quantify. We have so many albums between Soundpool & The Stargazer Lilies. The TSL album ‘Occabot’ probably pushes the boundaries the furthest on these genres with the brilliant production of mastermind of Tom Fec aka Tobacco / Black Moth Super Rainbow. I would also site Soundpool’s ‘Mirrors in Your Eyes’(Killer Pimp, 2010) as one of the most dimensional pushing movements of our career. That album actually got us kicked off of our then Japanese label Quince Records but now that album has its own Wikipedia page as proof that we did something totally original and special!
JB: What does it mean to you to have such a visceral and emotional connection with your listeners? Will you be hitting the road anytime soon? Tucson would welcome you with open arms!
KF: We were on the road replying to this interview from L.A. where we had our first show in 2 years. We love playing live and love playing to an audience but it’s a lot to pull off and we have toured so much. We have no other plans. If this goes well, we’ll be back out. If it doesn’t, it might not happen again. We’re making our pink candle shrine, and I do a lot of manifestation daily to hope that we can continue to do this. So after this run, we’re not sure what will happen. We’ll go back to our studio and work on new material. It’s really the best way for us to keep in touch with our listeners. Our emotional connection with our audience is everything to us being able to keep on doing this on a level outside of our home studio. This means everything to us right now. A big thank you to everyone who has ever bought our music or come out to a show or supported us in any way. All of you make it possible for us to do this. We hope to get back to Tucson soon! We stopped there to repair a tire on the way to LA … a very long, hot drive through the desert. Hopefully well worth it!
To have a listen or to purchase, please visit Bandcamp, Little Cloud Records or connect with the band on their socials Facebook and Instagram.
