Kevin Bronson on July 1st, 2015

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In the music she has made with Touché and Obi Best, Alex Lilly’s production has leaned toward the jazzy and left-field while her lyrical themes ventured into the playful and subversive. The singer-songwriter’s next step is to release music under her own name — and today she unveiled the funky new gem “Paranoid Times,” which features a guest turn from Tre Hardson of the Pharcyde. The collaboration has its own little twist, Lilly says. Producer Keefus Green (Kimbra, Mini Mansions) heard a demo of the song via Inara George of the Bird and the Bee (Lilly performs in the live band) and helped shape its big bump. Then, “I got a text late at night with what looked like a long poem about paranoia from an unknown number,” Lilly says. “Keefus neglected to tell me that he had sent the track to Tre Hardson, and Tre without any introduction sent me the rap. … A few weeks later I went to Portland to visit family and while I was at it went to Tre’s attic studio where we recorded the track in between drinks of coconut juice and rum and stories about Santeria and sex. That guy is fun to talk to.” The tune wields a pool party-ready bounce, except … “we’re living in paranoid times,” people. No firm release plans for Lilly’s new material yet, so best just dance and pay attention to that brightly colored cocktail.

||| Stream: “Paranoid Times”

||| Live: Alex Lilly performs Saturday, July 25, at Chinatown Summer Nights.

Photo by Daiana Feuer