LGBTQ Indie-Pop Band CARRY ILLINOIS Announce New EP & Austin Release Show

Carry Illinois, the indie-pop band founded and fronted by Lizzy Lehman, have announced the release of the new EP, Work in Progress, on 5/25/18. The band will celebrate the release that same day with a show at Cheer Up Charlies in their hometown of Austin, TX.

Work In Progress was co-produced by Carry Illinois and Grant Johnson (Calliope Musicals, Abram Shook, Feverbones, Bayonne), and is the follow up to 2017's, Garage Sale. Many of the songs on Garage Sale reflected the band's struggle to find the will to write and record after Carry Illinois' original bassist, John Winsor, took his own life. Lehman explains, "After John committed suicide in March of 2016, I decided that I no longer needed to shy away from the real struggles that I face. I decided that writing about it, singing about it, and performing with utmost strength and courage is what I need to do." After its release, Garage Sale gained critical acclaim, with praise from No Depression, Paste, Bitch, NewNowNext and more, earning Carry Illinois the title of Austin Monthly's Artist of The Month, May 2017.

On Work in Progress, Lehman continues to delve into deeply personal issues, displaying "a knack for connecting with her audience through lyrically revealing life in the rawest form." (Volup2) She touches upon topics that many can relate to, including coming out of the closet, her relationship with her body and mental health issues, including dealing with Winsor's suicide.

Lehman and her band-mates, guitarist Darwin Smith, drummer Rudy Villarreal, bassist Andrew Pressman and keyboardist Benjamin Rowe Violet* spent the first part of 2018 writing and recording Work In Progress, which will be released independently on May 25th, 2018. The official release show will be that night, at Austin's Cheer Up Charlies, and a summer tour will follow.