Features : Lila Artist Davis Kelleher blossoms with ‘Perennial Efflorescence’ album

Efflorescence is to blossom, or unfold as if coming into flower. 

The album “Perennial Efflorescence,” represents Salt Lake City artist Davis Kelleher’s development as a musician and songwriter with colorful and other-worldly sound. 

“Soulful space funk,” Kelleher said when asked to describe his sound on his debut album, 

“It’s pretty all over the place,” he added. “I have two sides of my art. I have this production side that’s on the computer, which has all these synth sounds, and is more heady. And I have this other side, a chill acoustic side, where the approach is more organic - more heart-felt vibe. I feel the latter is demonstrated on the last song, ‘Garden.’”

Kelleher, who grew up in Pennsylvania, creates his music under the artist’s name Lila, which is also the name he gave to his first guitar.

“When I got my first guitar I took it home, I was maybe 14 and it was my first professional guitar,” Kelleher said. “I opened it up on my bed and the name Lila just popped up in my head. I tried to think of different names, putting that name off, but a couple weeks later that name Lila came back into my head and wouldn't go away, so I decided ok, I'll name it Lila.

“I thought it was a good fit after I accepted it. I think two years went by when I played that guitar like crazy and played my soul through it. Then I looked up the name Lila, and saw it means divine play. That blew my mind.” 

He moved to Salt Lake when he turned 21 to “mix it up and get in a new environment.”

He worked a variety of jobs such as preschool teacher, wilderness therapeutic mentor and as a fish and chips cook on a food truck to make ends meet and support his budding music career.

“I've been dabbling in production for the past couple of years and I decided it was finally time to make an album because I’ve had so much stuff on the back burner,” Kelleher said. “I was telling people I'm a musician, I make stuff, I play guitar, but I haven’t had much to back that up with. I’ve wanted to get something more solid and concrete that I feel like demonstrates to some extent where I'm at artistically.”

The 11 tracks on “Perennial Efflorescence” have a variety of sounds from pure synthesizers to some guitar and saxophone music, which Davis wrote, played, produced, and engineered all himself. 

“I’ve spent a couple of years making it just because I’m pulling from different eras of my production making,” Kelleher said. “It’s interestingly become cohesive despite it being across this large timespan… I think some inspiration that happened in that timeframe was from delving into meditation and introspection and trying to figure stuff out.”

Asking Kelleher to pick a favorite song from the album would be like asking a parent to pick a favorite child, but he took a stab at it anyway.

“I think I'd probably say ‘Page Turning’ is my favorite if I had to pick. I made that in a real transition period in my life,” he said. “I was moving out of my hometown and out of my home state, basically moving out by myself to pursue the music and do my own thing. I started it in Pennsylvania and finished it in Utah, so it’s got this upheaved and determined feel to it. I also did some exciting experimenting in it, which was fun to put together.”

“I feel like I'm always thinking of new ideas and I feel like I make pretty varied stuff with different vibes,” he said. “But I like to create an environment, like my own little world, within the songs and give them the texture and space that makes this world I’m envisioning and experiencing real. 

Be sure to catch Lila, with Davis Kelleher, on all streaming and social media platforms:

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