Sunday Synthpop Brunch: Waterlillies

Ever been in a store and picked out a record to buy simply because something about it (the cover art, the titles, the producer, the label, whatever) looked kinda interesting? Tempted was one of those records for me.

Released in early August 1994, Tempted wasn't one of those records that occupied my CD changer months at a time, but instead a work that I found myself returning to on a few different occasions over the following months. Nearly 11 years later, Tempted still sits on my shelf, and a recent rediscovery of it's swirly treasures yielded this week's post.

For a brief time towards the end of 1994, it looked like Waterlillies would break out from the New York dance underground and make a serious play for the pop audience, as Sire Records released a couple of singles from Tempted and worked hard to break them at the radio level. Made up of producer Ray Carroll and vocalist Sandra Jill Alikas, Waterlillies had formed in the late 1980s and had released a similarly pretty debut album called Envoluptuousity to virtually no reaction at all in 1991. Perhaps best summed up by the somehow insistent swoon of “I Wanna Be There," Waterlillies specialized in music that was dance-floor friendly, yet incredibly soothing with Alikas' breathy, yearning vocals layered over a thick, pillowy bed of electronics.

Almost immediately upon release, Tempted represented a swift change of fortunes for the duo. While failing to make any inroads on the Billboard Hot 100, remixed versions of the disco-leaning title cut and the blissfully intoxicating “Never Get Enough” both generated considerable heat at danceclubs (the latter track even managed to top Billboard's Dance Chart). Encouraged by the warm reception, Waterlillies assembled a touring band and played an extensive array of shows in an effort to reach that much-talked-about "next level" of success. Apparently, such a break was just not in the cards.

Since very little biographical information exists on Waterlillies, it's impossible at this point to know exactly why Caroll and Alikas split the band up in 1995 (Dropped by the label? Artistic differences? Personal reasons?). Regardless, It is rather surprising and sad that the duo called it a day so quickly after this frustrating near-miss. Who knows? The third time could have been the charm...