Lily Vakili, photo by Bill Heuberger
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Building on the success of her 2025 full-length release Oceans Of Kansas and tour, comes Lily Vakili's first live EP, Live Wire out May 8, 2026, an in-studio, live audio and video recording of songs named for what fans and critics alike say is a perfect description of her charismatic performance style.
For this stripped down and intimate six-song release, Vakili wanted to capture the distinctive sound of performing this collection of songs with her touring band: Eric Burns on guitar (Super Yamba Band, Robert Finley), Joseph Yount on drums (Super Yamba Band), and Drew Hart on bass (The National Reserve). The timing felt right because she'd just come off touring with the same group of musicians, so she called upon her collaborator, the Grammy-Award winning, Emmy-nominated producer/engineer Reed Turchi, to produce the EP at his studio Second Take Sound in New York City.
"I've finally understood that what makes my music most compelling is when I perform it live with a band," says Vakili. "This is the message audiences have been telling me for a long time, so I decided to try to capture that experience in a live in-studio session." Live Wire reimagines old favorites and introduces two new songs showcasing her emotionally raw, live sound – a genre-blending fusion of blues, rock, and art rock, backed by poetic storytelling.
In celebration of the new EP and the success of Oceans Of Kansas, Vakili has released a new music video for her song "I've Been Hiding", created in collaboration with visual artist Robert Edridge-Waks. The Big Takeover said of the album and song, "...adventurous, fresh, yet slightly familiar, and the album feels like you have been listening to it most of your life, surely the hallmark of a classic in the making...You are hooked from the start. 'I've Been Hiding' is a confessional that slowly burns its way from staccato struts to apocalyptic-blues anthems, sitting in the musical landscape within easy reach of Nick Cave...What a fantastic album."
Besides the great reviews, other highlights include the single, "Okoboji," which had its debut on WFUV's NY Slice, and her performance of "Maybe It's All Over," as part of an In-Studio Session at WNRN; the song was named NPR Music Song of The Day on December 16, 2025 and featured on the websites of more than 20 NPR stations across the country.
A lifelong observer, chronicler, and creative force, Lily Vakili has spent years gathering fragments of the world – memories, landscapes, voices, losses, joys – and transforming them into urgent, electric songs. She was raised across Honduras, Florida, Thailand, Puerto Rico, and Iowa – absorbing pieces of each place, each culture, along the way. This international upbringing shaped her worldview, her voice, and her lifelong search for connection. The past decade has seen her channel that force through six studio albums – released both as a solo artist and with her successful Vakili Band – each one experimenting with the wide, untamed possibilities of rock.
Vakili's creative passion, as a singer/songwriter shines through in her live show where she strives to reach her audience through her storytelling whether through a ballad, a love song, or a hard-rocking blues lament. She will be on tour throughout 2026, all dates to be announced soon.
