Lili Refrain stands at a pivotal moment in her career with the release of Nagalite, a bold new project that expands far beyond the scope of 2022’s Mana. Conceived as a multi-movement suite, Nagalite marks a clear shift in both form and vision. It reflects a desire to avoid repetition, embracing experimentation while responding to a turbulent present shaped by personal and global realities. In this conversation, we explore the origins of Nagalite, its symbolism, and the journey behind this new creative chapter.
Welcome to Lili Refrain
So, first of all I want to thank you for for accepting this offer. I wanted to start by asking you how this whole promotional machine is going. You’re pretty busy I guess, right?
Yes, I am very happy because now the tour has not started yet, but I am getting ready, so there are many things. Behind it there is a huge amount of work. Everything that you don’t see behind the scenes is actually really full of commitment and days and diopters and a few hours of sleep, as we know.
The new single Nagal and the upcoming tour plans
But everything is going very well, the new single Nagal is out, which it is taken from my new full-lenght Nagalite. It came out on January 16th and it’s going really well. So I’m very happy with the reactions that there have been, the feedback I’ve received that has all been highly positive.
A video related to this song has also been released which was directed by Carlo Settembrini. In short, it is going well, many things are moving, there is a lot of curiosity. There will be this tour which will be my first tour as headliner both in England and in Europe. I am very excited and in short, I hope to get there well. Without collapsing first.
Lili Refrain: The idea about Nagalite
So let’s start a bit from the beginning. I remember that Mana came out in 2022, and during all these years you were litereally busy touring. However, when did the idea for Nagalite actually come about? When was the moment you thought, even briefly, “this is going to become Nagalite”?
Because this is a completely different kind of project. Whereas Mana was made up of individual songs, instead Nagalite is a suite in four movements. It’s more like putting on an old ’70s prog record, dropping the needle on the turntable, and listening to a single, continuous 32-minute piece.
No, but it’s true, it’s true, there’s a big difference, they’re two very different albums. But on the other hand until now I think I’ve never made an album the same as another. Exactly, so I don’t like to repeat myself much, I like to continue to explore new things and things that challenge me.To always get out of my comfort zones a little and go where I prefer to explore rather than reiterate something that maybe I have already said and already know. But also for my personal stimulus.
The road to Nagalite: touring, touring and touring
So, Mana as you rightly remember came out in 2022, there were many tours. I didn’t even have much time to stop to process because in 2022 then I left for three months with Heilung. Then immediately after I went on tour with The Cult who wanted me as a special guest of their month-long tour. And lastly, I left for another month with Death Cult which would be the previous group to The Cult for their 40th anniversary. These were all extremely dense and intense. In short, few breaks between one thing and another. Following to Death Cult, I left for 43 dates in a row without any day off with Kalandra. I didn’t stop for a moment because I then came back in 2025, so I played so many dates.
“I took up part of the guitar that I had left a little aside on Mana“
When I finally stopped, I rested. Honestly, I needed it. Just then, I began to elaborate this new sound adventure. I took up part of the guitar that I had left a little aside on Mana. Even though, I explored much more the whole part related to synths, I had not yet delved much into that part. So it’s definitely a reflection, inevitably music for me is also a reflection of my person, but also of what happens around me. With everything going on lately, it’s been hard not to be affected by it all—especially given the kind of historical and social moment we’re living through right now. Also a bit of a reflection and a sort of, let’s call it a ton-totemic antidote, to what’s happening. Given that the title of the album which is Nagalite that combines these two words.
Lili Refrain:”We really need a guardian”
I wanted to ask about the album title. “Nagais” means snake and “Litos” means stone—I remember “Litos” from Greek. How do these two very different words—one an animal, the other an inanimate natural element—come together to reflect the album and your overall concept?
These two words are very, very ancient and they come from so far away. Both culturally and historically. Indeed, Naga comes from Sanskrit, therefore one of the oldest languages ever. Not only does it mean snake, but the nagas were also gods in reality. And they were practically these deities halfway between the demigod and the animal. Indeed they were the guardians of the thresholds. All those gods present at crucial turning points, where everything could shift one way or the other. They felt very fitting to me as a reminder that we need a guardian—not just of a threshold, but also a guide—because, as far as I can see, things are slipping into complete disarray right now.
Shedding the skin for surviving
The snake in ancient times has always been an animal associated with the symbol of ancient wisdom. And above all transformation, a necessary transformation without which not even the snake could live. Because it would remain stranded inside a skin that if it is not removed would be relegated to illness and certain death, which is a bit like what we are experiencing socially now. We are not able to get rid of this ancient, old skin that is now sick.
And evidently because it is no longer functional to our collective well-being. Not only individual, but just collective, socially, social and human collectivit. Therefore it would be appropriate to start evolving because we are regressing. And regression can simply lead to a stasis that will not make us be something better unfortunately, and we are seeing it a bit.
On the other hand, Litos, which derives from the Ancient Greek, it means stone. Instead it is something extremely solid, something compact. Something permanent that also reflects the world we live in—slowly changing, yet still our home, our roots, our foundation.
Lili Refrain: “I simply observe what happens to me”
Yes—if you think about it, a stone can be millions of years old and still be here with us. And Naga, the snake, can be seen as a metaphor for reflection and change—which, if we look at what’s happening now, is in full swing. So were you something of a seer? [laughs]
No, no, I simply observe what happens to me. I feel it on an empathic level—maybe even too much. This kind of historical period either numbs you completely so you don’t go crazy from all the crap that’s happening, or it hypersensitizes you, so you empathize as if every issue is touching raw nerves.
“This energy, this pain arrives loud and clear.”
I think I’m quite sensitive to it. Even if this great evil isn’t happening directly to you—no war, no missiles falling on you—you still feel it. This energy, this pain arrives loud and clear. So I don’t feel separate from what’s happening around me, and looking at it, feeling it, it’s hard not to feel bad.
Lili Refrain: “This is my small grain of sand”
Still, I try at least to do something. I know music isn’t decisive or doesn’t offer a solution for living better. But if it can be that tiny grain of sand that jams this terrible mechanism a little, then so be it. Right now, this—making music—is the only way I have, and I try to use it as best I can. This is my small grain of sand, and I hope it can slow down this immense machine, even just a little.
The cover artwork of Nagalite
I also wanted to say a few words about the album cover, which I think is a real work of art. It features this snake and this woman bent over—I’m not sure how to describe her, maybe a she-wolf, maybe some kind of quadruped. But in any case, the cover for Nagalite really reflects what you’re saying now.
Absolutely, I am truly grateful to this incredible Italian artist named Nicola Alessandrini. He is a street artist who has done exceptional work throughout Italy and beyond. And it is a person who is surrounded by his works even at home. So, we had wanted to collaborate together for a long time and we finally crowned this collaboration. And I’m very happy with what came out because the cover is very impactful, it’s not accommodating at all.
The cover artwork of Nagalite [cont]
What she represents is a primate. Indeed, she is a sort of individual, a threshold too. Acutally, she is probably female obviously, which is halfway between a human stage and a still animal stage. It’s a quadruped that has a wounded body and that is about to transform because it’s halfway between a human. The head is a bit human, the hands are human, the feet are human but the position is still that of an animal, it’s a primate. It’s as if this ancient creature is coming into contact with the snake, which, as we know, is a symbol of both poison and antidote. So it’s up to the person who meets this reality—something essentially double—to decide whether it kills or heals them.
The cover artwork of Nagalite [cont]
So it depends a bit on what you want to get out of what comes from the world. If you want to take only the poison or if you want to take the beauty that is there. Consequently, to turn it into an antidote—something that can also counteract all the poison that’s spreading. So this primate is taking on this power in some way to evolve, to transform. It is not known if she will heal or be injured or die, this cover does not say.
The cover artwork of Nagalite [cont]
But if it opens, yes, in reality inside there is a positive development because this primate will then becomes a constellation. As if it’s returning to the stars and the constellation, but also to the stone—because the stone isn’t only something earthly; there’s a celestial stone too, right? This is the artwork, I’m so happy that you liked it because we were both a little scared that it’s definitely not an accommodating job, it’s not a nice person.
Giving a shock
Every now and then, you also have to stop being accommodating, because if you’re too easygoing, the risk is that everything just slides past you and you end up numb. The point is, yes, it’s fine to accept a lot—but not everything. You also need a bit of shock, artistic in my view, something that jolts you and makes you think, because otherwise you never really reflect.
That’s also my idea, and I fully agree. Nicola is a real master at this, because in figurative art—so often a kind of mirror in which we see ourselves—if a work doesn’t stir strong feelings or raise questions, you just end up saying, “Oh, that’s a woman, that’s a she-wolf, that’s a primate.” So the fact that this cover somehow makes you doubt. “What am I even looking at? What is this thing? Do I like it? Is it good or bad?”—already means we’ve hit our goal.
The tour of Lili Refrain starts now
Exactly, then I wanted to remember your next appointments for a moment, I know that you have a very important appointment with Roadburn that wanted you back. Then you remind me a little bit about your plans for the next dates, tours around Europe?
I have to read through them because I don’t know them all by heart—there are so many. Anyway, the whole tour starts on March 27th, which is the album release day, and I’ll basically kick things off on the 20th, a few days before, a week ahead, together with Saor, a Scottish black‑metal folk band. It’s three shows, three co‑headline dates, so we’ll be playing together.
The tour of Lili Refrain starts now [cont]
I see Rome, I see Verona, I see Milan…
That’s right, and from the 27th I go completely solo, starting mostly in the UK and then moving through Germany and Poland, ending in Brussels. There’s also a date in the Czech Republic, plus Roadburn Festival and a final festival show in Brussels in May. And there will be more dates to come—various summer festivals—but those will be announced a bit later.