© Lodovica Di Bernardo
Lili Refrain is a multi-instrumentalist...
...composer and performer based in Rome, Italy. Active since 2007, her solo project is built around the use of electric guitar, voice, percussion and synthesizers, layered in real time through loop stations, without the use of computers or pre-recorded tracks.
Her music traverses vast ritualistic and visceral sonic territories, combining minimalist, folk, psychedelic, blues, metal and lyrical and operatic textures. Her compositions are infused with archetypal energies, and the performative dimension represents a central element of the project. Lili Refrain’s live shows are physical, immersive and cathartic experiences, capable of guiding the listener through a hypnotic act that transcends the boundaries of any musical genre.
From its very beginnings, the project has stood out for its strongly innovative framework. In a context often oriented toward electronics and pre-recorded backing tracks, Lili Refrain has developed a fully analog solo language, based on the extensive use of looping as both a compositional and performative tool. This approach has led musicians and critics alike to cite her as a source of inspiration for her personal use of repetition and sonic stratification as a form of contemporary rituality.
The absence of semantic...
...verbal language further gives the project a universal dimension, free from linguistic or geographical barriers, allowing the music to communicate in a direct and profound way.
Her early works, “Lili Refrain” (2007), “9” (2009) and “Kawax” (2013), are strongly centered on guitar and voice and remain difficult to classify, suspended among multiple references and imaginaries. These albums represent the prelude to an artistic path in constant evolution, which over the years has crossed different sonic territories while maintaining a strong and coherent identity.
“Early Lili Refrain and I are not that different people: even tho 15 years have passed and a great deal of experience and changes in between, I have never abandoned my roots.
I know where I come from and what brought me here."
Lili Refrain
© Violetta Ellisdottir
In 2020, she released “ULU”...
...a 22-minute EP in three acts that functions as a bridge between the project’s initial phase and a new timbral exploration. Alongside the guitar, new instruments were gradually introduced, including percussion and synthesizers, expanding the project’s expressive range.
This journey culminated in “Mana”
(Subsound Records, 2022) Created in collaboration with Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studio in Rome. In this work, Lili Refrain explores lower frequencies and introduces a more articulated use of percussion, including the Japanese taiko, an instrument that unites two of her greatest passions, music and martial arts. The use of deep synth drones and percussion also allowed her to further expand her vocal research, incorporating techniques ranging from throat singing to operatic singing.
Following the release of Mana, Lili Refrain established herself as one of the most recognizable presences within the contemporary ritual music scene, performing at numerous international festivals including Roadburn (Netherlands), Hellfest (France), Desertfest, Motocultor, Inferno Festival (Norway), Mystic Festival (Poland), Midgardsblot (Norway), Dunk Festival (Belgium), Fekete Zaj (Hungary), Sonic Rites (Finland), Ascension Festival (Iceland) and many others.
© Lasse Norlemann Mathiesen
Between 2023 and 2025...
...she toured extensively throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. After joining Heilung on a three-month European tour and opening for The Cult as a support act on their European tour, in 2024 she took part in an intense 43-date tour alongside Kalandra, further consolidating the strength and continuity of her live activity.
In 2026, Lili Refrain opens a new chapter in her artistic journey with the release of the single “Nagal”, anticipating the new album “NAGALITE”, set for release on March 27 via Subsound Records. Recorded and mixed by Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studio and accompanied by artwork by Nicola Alessandrini, NAGALITE further deepens the ritualistic, hypnotic and archetypal dimension of her music, expanding its expressive and immersive power.
The new work confirms Lili Refrain as one of the most personal and coherent voices in contemporary ritual music, consolidating an artistic path in constant evolution.
The list of her collaborations is very long, as are the bands and musicians with whom she shared the stage, some of the most relevant are: Heilung, The Cult, Meshuggah, Ben Frost, Steve Vai, Current 93, Sieben, Cannibals Corps, Megadeath, Napalm Death, Anna Von Hausswolff, Lingua Ignota, Author and Punisher, Alcest, Oranssi Pazuzu, Testament, Gojira, Godflesh...