In a musical landscape overrun with grand gestures, broad brush strokes and inane generalities Litany’s songwriting takes the path less travelled. With a keen eye for the minutiae of life, Litany takes a magnifying glass to the – sometimes painful – details of love and friendship and creates songs which are both acutely personal yet universally understood.
“I’ve always written a song as though I’m having a conversation with someone, telling them every microscopic detail of how something shit/incredible went down with a dude or whatever. What music was playing in the background, what level were we at on Super Mario Bros, what was my mum burning in the oven downstairs? - that kinda thing”
Born some 26 years ago, the young Beth Cornell spent her childhood in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Thriving on a diet of 90s pop, computer games and youthful romance, she went on to channel these themes into the music of Litany. The success of early releases ‘Work This Out’ and ‘Flaws’ were soon dwarfed by the triumph of ‘Bedroom’ from 2017’s 4 Track EP.
Forming her long-term band from the Yorkshire music scene, Litany began honing the live shows that make her such an essential IRL experience. From the beginning Litany’s shows have felt more like a night out at the best house party ever than your average indie-pop gig – somewhere where everyone is welcome, we’re all the cool kids and any judgements are left at the door. Dates across the UK and at festivals including in Reading and Leeds culminated in a sell-out show at London’s Garage in October 2019. Forced to pull her Spring 2020 UK tour due to you-know-what, these dates – including her biggest headline yet at London’s Heaven – have thankfully now been rescheduled for January / February 2021.
“Even though the venues are getting bigger, I wanna keep a level of intimacy. I’m not one for crazy production values, more, most likely, telling one too many embarrassing jokes between songs. I want people to get that warm fuzzy feeling of being surrounded by lovely people, listening to best damn curated party playlist ever.”
A move to London in 2019 brought new inspiration and a new select group of collaborators, culminating in the release of the Single Player Mode EP in November 2019. Including cult hit ‘My Dude’ (a BBC Introducing Song Of The Week) and the emotional highlight of the title track (the subject of her first ever music video), the EP showed Litany reaching beyond the limits of the prefixes indie / bedroom / alt into the realms of pure, unashamed pop itself. Ever growing in confidence, in ability, in sheer irresistible charm, Litany is set to join the ranks of those groundbreaking musicians that inspire her: Robyn, Haim, Christine and The Queens, Caroline Polachek….
“I had a duty to myself to write the Single Player Mode EP, it was in many ways closure of chapter one of my life and career, I was (and still am) rinsing the pop greats to feel good and it rubbed off on my songwriting. My taste is ever growing and changing and with it, my sound metamorphosing - I’m giddy to add to the bank of bops and see where I land next.”
