iSound

Alias continues his inspired trip through wordless soundscapes with his third full-length and first collaborative instrumental album, Lillian. On 2003's Muted, Alias (born Brendan Whitney) turned the corner from sample-based beatmaking and introspective raps to live instrumentation and electronic songcraft. He'd taken a giant leap of faith and strangely enough, landed square in his own shoes. Warm, fuzzy and swelled with pride, he sent the first copies of the record back to his family in Maine. Ehren Whitney, eleven years Brandon's junior, was only three when his big brother started plastering the walls of their room with posters of screw-faced rappers but the music's crotchtight grip never quite got ahold of him. In fifth grade he started playing saxophone and discovered he was a natural. Dad, a jazz drummer, would bring Ehren with him to gigs and pretty soon he was jamming along with the old-timers. Word spread through the extended Whitney clan, and before long he'd gathered a pil...