Reily

"...thoughtful with cohesive instrumentation and haunting vocals"

"extremely mature" - The Brampton Guardian

"an obvious success...you wouldn't guess that it was their first [album]" - UofT

"...take my words for it, this new kind of sound is pretty damn delicious." - Saint Rock n Roll

"the music was not to bring darkness and silence from its listeners, but as a way to purge those emotions and feel positive." - Lucid Forge (Waterloo)

Feel the ethereal with Reily
Kathryn Lyzun

The lyrics and tone of Reily’s debut full length CD belie their age. The five members all fall short of their 23rd birthday, but the maturity of their music is years beyond.
Reily is a very new band, having formed in December 2005, but the power behind lead vocalists Megan Bonnell and Lisa Horvath has propelled them through what was initially a five-song EP into a full album, Listen to the Rain.
Bonnell and Horvath have a decidedly Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries) sound with a smoother, lighter Sarah McLachlan feel.
The CD is haunting and spiritual, something you would imagine listening to in the dark as the rain falls heavily outside. Nick Bernal (guitar and cello) Nathan Stretch (bass) and Anthony James (drums) take you along with the girls on a ghostly, poetic trip with Red Candles, Nearing Our End and You Would Have Come Back.
Listening to the Rain was independently produced, tracked and mixed by Reily in Brampton. The result is a pleasing aura of a musical community; three songwriters in the group work closely to pen all the songs. The result is folk rock with a heavier undertone, as the album was written around the loss of one band member’s mother. It’s filled with stories of love, hate, death, fear and reconciliation – an album the Brampton Guardian called “extremely mature.”
Reily have found a consistent home on CBC Radio and in live performances, playing with groups like Australia’s The Veronicas, The Most Serene Republic and Porcelain Youth.
You can mellow out with Reily at the Apollo on Sept. 7. - Thunder Bay Source

"Making a connection with the refreshing and ethereal music which Reily makes shouldn't be too hard" - Angie Valente - The Thunder Bay Spot

"If Arts & Crafts is looking for a new band to sign, they might want to check out locals Reily. The five-piece play haunting boy-girl-harmony-style pop in the vein of Stars or Young Galaxy. Their new EP, We Were Archaeologists, is loaded with calming melodies and electronic atmospherics, and a few catchy moments, too. The best track by far is We Are Geologists, which includes an infectious and repetitive chorus that would make Kevin Drew proud. This band seems to be going places, but they've still got a lot of work to do. Some of the songs play it too safe, such as the sappy Raindrops, but in due time Reily could become A&C's best new act."
- NOW Magazine (toronto)

REILY ARE A surprisingly talented quintet from Brampton. Listening to their chilled-out five-song EP, I couldn’t help but make comparisons to The Dears (not as dramatic) and Stars (not as sentimental). They sing love songs about going on road trips, touching hands, and all that other cheese, but the interesting arrangements, crystal-clear production, pretty boy/girl harmonies, and soothing chord progressions justify it. Check out the track “we are geologists” for upbeat, spring-time pop, “raindrops” for totally depressing piano-led pop, or “people have a funny way of knowing” for climactic night-time pop. Pop! Pop pop.
—Travis Boisvenue - Ottawa Fulcrum

It’s been a hectic year for the members of the band Reily.
The group of five has not only released an EP entitled We Were Archaeologists, they have also written and recorded a new album which they are currently shopping around to record labels and played numerous live shows. They have done it all while holding down jobs and working on university and college degrees.
“We all kind of went through some really stressful times last year. It’s really hard to keep your marks up when you’re playing a show till 3 a.m., and you wake up at 6 a.m. to go to school,” said one of the vocalists Lisa Horvath, explaining that from now until next summer each of the band members have put their other commitments aside to concentrate solely on pushing the band forward.
“We figured that we’re young enough that if we take a year off it’s not going to make a big difference to us, so we figure we should just put ourselves into it completely and see what we can do,” said Horvath, admitting that when it came down to it the members of Reily were all putting the band before school work anyway.
The collective decision by the members of Reily seems to be a good one; the band is right on track.
After just finishing a tour of the east coast, the busy group of five who call Ontario home and have been playing together for just over a year-and-a-half are heading out on tour again.
This time, they will be hitting spots all over western Canada, including a stop in Okotoks on June 24, at Elks Hall, as well as a much coveted spot in this year’s Sled Island Music Festival along side Mates Of State on June 28, in Calgary.
“That will be a highlight,” said Horvath about what an honour it is for Reily to play a show with Mates of State. Included in the Okotoks show will be a set from Kelowna-based band Alphababy as well as the Calgary band, Hot Little Rocket.
The young band, which is hesitant to give a specific label to their style of music, classifies themselves as indie rock and incorporates elements of folk and alternative rock influences into their music.
“We classify it as indie rock because it’s hard to say anything else about it,” said Horvath, adding that the band’s unique sound comes from having two female lead vocalists as well as having piano-based songs.
With the upcoming tour, as well as the tour planned for September, Reily will be playing a lot of their unreleased music, which has a different sound from past tunes.
“We try to make our songs familiar and unconventional,” said Horvath, explaining that although the band enjoys being a little different, they have been working at making their songs a little catchier to first time listeners.
For now, the band is looking forward to the tour and looking forward to playing live shows. “We put on a fun show and with all the instruments it’s visually interesting to watch everyone play,” said Horvath. - Western Wheel (Okotoks, AB)