B-Side Guys

Immortality changes the stakes of devotion. Late Cambrian’s “Into The Lilac Tree” reimagines the love song through the eyes of a being who can’t die, turning romantic commitment into something both tender and unsettling. The Brooklyn collective built around the creative and romantic partnership of John Wlaysewski and Olive Hui delivers what they describe as simultaneously romantic and terrifying—a rom-com body horror where promises of forever aren’t metaphorical but literal and slightly monstrous.

The lyrics move through increasingly disquieting declarations of love. Observing someone reading in public while ignoring lonely creeps sounds sweet until the speaker offers belladonna tea so they can sleep forever in the tallest hill they see. Those watchful hundred eyes making someone feel at home shifts from protective to predatory depending on the angle. When blood drains into the lilac tree and love becomes something the world can smell while the lovers exist between medieval tales and sea shanties, the track has fully committed to its premise: immortal love operates by different rules, and those rules include elements that would horrify mortals.

The production handles this tonal complexity through swirling guitars and lush vocal harmonies that Late Cambrian has refined across releases like their 2022 apartment-recorded Future Snacks and recent double single “Late Bloomer / Cave My Head Full of Dreams.” Wlaysewski’s guitar work and Hui’s keys create psychedelic textures that feel dreamlike without losing their edge, while the rhythm section—Matthew Milligan on bass, Eric Zeender on guitar and backing vocals, Ben Weiss on drums—provides grounding even as the narrative spirals into stranger territory.

The track appears on the Into the Lilac Tree EP, which received a limited-edition cassette run on July 31st, 2025. A music video dropped today (November 10th), presumably amplifying the rom-com body horror aesthetic that the song establishes sonically. For a band that evolved from Wlaysewski’s solo project following his earlier band’s end into a full collective, Late Cambrian has maintained cohesion while refusing to be boxed into a single approach. They weave psychedelic flourishes, pop hooks, and moody introspection with equal commitment.

What makes “Into The Lilac Tree” work is how it never winks at its own premise. The immortal narrator’s devotion is genuine, even when expressing it through imagery of belladonna and blood draining into trees. The track understands that from the perspective of forever, death becomes just another form of intimacy, and watching someone with a hundred eyes is an act of love rather than surveillance. It’s a love song, certainly—just one that acknowledges how romance looks when you remove mortality’s usual boundaries.