Fenne Lily

English singer/songwriter Fenne Lily delivers her melancholic songs with a hushed, understated tone. Following in the footsteps of Joni Mitchell and later Laura Marling, by her mid-teens Lily had developed a deep and personal approach that resonated beyond her years. She released her first album, On Hold, in 2018 before making her Dead Oceans debut with Breach in 2020.
A Dorset native, Fenne Lily began writing songs at a young age. Traveling back and forth from Dorset to Bristol as a 17-year-old, she began landing support gigs with acts like C Duncan, KT Tunstall, and Marika Hackman, quickly establishing herself in the U.K. folk and songwriter scene. Written when she was only 15, her debut single, the spare acoustic “Top to Toe,” made an impressive showing, notching millions of streams in 2016. Subsequent releases like “What’s Good” and “For a While” fared similarly well as she began making the rounds on the festival circuit. In January 2018, Lily issued “On Hold,” the title track from her debut album. Arriving in March that year, On Hold featured a plethora of melancholic ballads. After signing to Dead Oceans in early 2020, Lily returned with the song “Hypochondriac.” Recorded with producer Brian Deck and Steve Albini, her sophomore album, Breach, followed that September. ~ Timothy Monger & Marcy Donelson