Lilium began in 2013, when band leader and lead singer I-Shuo released 2 demos on YouTube. This simple act laid the foundation to their music, a 3-piece rock band performing songs written in Taiwanese Hokkien: I-Shuo on lead vocals, guitar, and traditional string instruments; Wei-Zuo on electric bass and backup vocals; I-Hsin on drums, percussion, and backup vocals.
It wasn’t until six years later that Lilium released their industry-shaking album Burnana in 2019. By that time, I-Shuo had already begun incorporating elements of traditional Taiwanese music such as Nanguan (lit: Southern pipes) and Beiguan (lit: Northern pipes) into their creations by consulting with established performers in the traditional Taiwanese circles.
In 2021, after working with Sonic Deadhorse, a visionary producer who was himself a recipient of Taiwan's Golden Melody Award (GMA), Lilium released their sophomore album: Road to…. The album was a revolutionary new fusion of genres, blending styles such as Bossa Nova, Synthwave and Disco-Funk with the sounds and stories of Taiwanese traditional music.
Road to… won “Best Taiwanese Hokkien Album” and “Best Album Design” at the 33rd GMAs in 2022, putting Lilium on the mainstream map after years of rocking the Indie music scene. As their image and music have developed and expanded, so has their performance style: the former trio has expanded to a variety of different ensembles, inviting various instrumentalists and musicians to join them onstage and bring additional flavors such as electric guitar, synthesizer, flute, and live traditional Taiwanese pipes for their live shows.
