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Musician Marilla Gonzalez Takes a Solo Turn

The Lipker Sisters

If you’ve ever seen the upstate New York group the Cool Club perform, it’s likely you saw them with a trio of musical sisters.

The Lipker Sisters perform in a style that is decades removed for their own lives. The eldest, Marilla Gonzalez, says that their love of all kinds of music is all part of growing up with all kinds of music.

“People say, how long have you been doing this, and it’s really hard to answer because it really depends on what genre and what type. Because, music always is a part of our family. Music is always a part of our conversations and the white noise in the background in any particular house. And so we, my sisters and I, have tried different types of music our whole life and so with my music, I only started putting that out into the public realm five or six years ago, maybe. But, I’ve been writing for a lot longer than that, so I feel still a bit still like a newbie, but I guess I’m not really in a sense.”

Elizabeth, Grace, and Marilla all take solo turns at the mic, but lately Marilla has been working on a solo project with Geneva-based producer Pablo Falbru. Taking a strictly solo turn is as much a practical as an artistic consideration for Marilla.

“Even just schedule wise, we’re all pretty busy. When we come together for Cool Club rehearsal it’s like an act of God to focus on that. So, to add another rehearsal and to add more onto everyone’s plate, it just didn’t work for this particular EP. Going forward I’d love to and I think that we could come up with some really interesting stuff, but we haven’t taken that leap yet.”

One thing that’s hard to miss about Marilla’s songwriting, it’s very happy.

“Now that I’ve been writing for a while I notice that I tend to gravitate toward a happier narrative toward the positive and that’s a little sugar sweet for some people. I get that. That’s okay. But, it usually is a snapshot and I have songs that are not so much, but I am very happy with what I’m doing right now and very happy with where I am, and I try to reflect that.”

Marilla is still putting the finishing touches on the EP for release. Tonight, she’ll be in Pink Dress Studio in Geneva with Pablo Falbru. They’ll be writing and recording a new song with lyrics suggested by people on Facebook. Some of that process and a musical set will be broadcast on Concert Window.

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Kelly Walker started his public radio career at WBAA in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1985 and has spent some time in just about every role public broadcasting has to offer. He has spent substantive time in programming and development at KWMU in St. Louis, WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana, and Troy Public Radio in Alabama before his arrival in Geneva, New York. In addition, his work has been heard on many other public radio stations as well as NPR. Kelly also produces The Sundilla Radio Hour, which airs Sundays at 1 p.m. on Finger Lakes Public Radio and is distributed to public radio stations all over the country through PRX.
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