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"Guillorn's lonesome, stark music doesn't just conjure the Velvet Underground but serves as a rallying point for other Velvets fans to contribute (the late great Robert Quine, Luna, Feelies). She's no Nico clone though-think more of the lovely third VU album." -- The Village Voice

Ear Might: Lys Guillorn Is Determined To Do All by Dan Barry – Hartford Advocate, Hartford, CT (excerpt)

Her music, which she calls “avant-twang” or “clinical blues,” is spare and amazing. It’s sort of a sinister alt-country, conceived of before Americana became the new big thing. Her expertly-produced 2003 debut earned rave reviews from around the globe, and her follow-up E.P., Three Songs, experimented with home recording and hand-crafted album packaging. Her lyrics deal with depression, aching beauty and dream residues, but she approaches them from a literary perspective, with crafty turns of phrase and quirky wit."

Lys Guillorn - Lys Guillorn (CD review) – She Took His Breath Away (UK) by Kev Aldersay
There is something going on here that is not apparent when it starts off. This meek and mild tunesmith and multi-instrumentalist has a girdle of heavy metal surrounding her, female fragility enclosed in a corset of steel, perhaps. Vocals that are edgy and determined at the same time, a dark side showing through on strangely chilling numbers like 'Counterproductive' and 'In Sleep', and yet her lighter side depicted on songs like her cover of Johnny Thunders 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory'. Er, well, I don't a lighter side, actually. Falsely gentle, this is ten tunes that are as deep as a razor-blade cut, as strong as a first hit of Russian vodka, as glorious as a national flag in battle.
HARDTOPINDOWNBUTEASYTOLOVE

Lys Guillorn - Lys Guillorn (CD review) – Americana UK June 2003 by RB
This is a debut release from Connecticut singer-songwriter Lys Guillorn and quite frankly it’s a record that gets under your skin in the same way it will slip under the radar of most genre specific music media. To begin with her voice seems to seamlessly morph - one minute she’s Nico, the next Grace Slick and then Natalie Merchant- and these subtle shifts are also reflected in the songs. It’s a diverse array of 1960’s psychedelia and new wave yet executed with contemporary rather than nostalgic performances. The arrangements, though lo-fi on the surface, have a depth and integrity that many current artists fail to achieve despite their constant strive for a ‘back to basics’ take on song writing. The closest comparisons I can make are to early REM with the atmospheric ‘Counterproductive’ and the haunting, hammond laden ‘In Sleep’ sounding like something off ‘Murmur’ whereas the ghost of Nico/The Velvets hangs heavy over the stark ‘Impossible’ and ‘Who’s Losing You’. Guillorn also demonstrates a lighter touch with stripped down carnival/music box tunes such as ‘Steel Pier’, ‘Throne’ and the children’s lullaby ‘Little Wren’ and yet these retain a sinister air about them due to her detached vocals and sparse instrumentation. ‘Weightless’ shows her shifting gears again as her voice soars over Pink Floyd style swirly guitars before finishing the record off with a passionate cover of Johnny Thunder’s ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’. Having listened to it again (for about the 8th time) whilst writing this I’ve also scribbled down the names Beth Orton, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Galaxie 500, Michelle Shocked and Johnny Dowd- which reflects the sheer depth and diversity of Guillorn’s craft. It’s also interesting that this record has been sat in the can for 3 years and yet sounds very fresh- in fact, timeless.

Lys Guillorn - Lys Guillorn (CD review) – Comes With A Smile #14 Spring 2004 (London) by Geraint Jones
Quite why Lys Guillorn's hypnotic debut languished unreleased for almost four years I'm not certain, but her quiet, understated voice is as curiously beautiful as it is oddly unsettling. Her songs - economic, measured and precise - nevertheless exude an undeniably intoxicating warmth. Short, sweet and deceptively alluring, this self-titled set has much to recommend it.

Though an adept multi-instrumentalist, and one who demonstrates some restraint in her arrangements, Guillorn has been able to call on some guest turns to augment her songs. Keeping the beat is Luna and former Feelies drummer, Stanley Demeski. Elsewhere, Luna frontman Dean Wareham adds some immediately identifiable flourishes to Little Wren, one of the album's best songs. Other Feelies Brenda Sauter and Glen Mercer also contribute as does former Voidoid Robert Quine, who adds some minimalist icy sheen to Counterproductive, which is also intriguingly punctuated by a Lightnin' Hopkins vocal sample.

On Impossible, another stand-out cut, Guillorn utilises Glen Mercer on lead - the ensuing wash of twang-inflected psychedelia and la la la harmonies, two-and-a-half-minutes of aural heaven in anyone's language. Weightless, in contrast, is hauntingly unnerving, like some lost outtake from Big Star's "Sister Lovers". And there's an excellent version of the great Johnny Thunders song, You Can't Put Your Arms Round a Memory, featuring just Guillorn on acoustic guitar.

So if oddly uplifting, folk, blues, country-infused, actoustic semi-electric psychedelic dark pop music is your thing, please say hello to Lys Guillorn, you'll get along just fine.

Lys is More – Fairfield Weekly October 16, 2008
"It's probably safe to make such a bold claim as the following: Lys Guillorn is one of the best songwriters in Connecticut right now. She writes haunting and compelling melodies and poetic but entirely accessible
lyrics, and her songs are prone to unexpected turns (both lyrically and structurally). She frames them by playing in a sort of Gothic art-country/folk-rock mode, airy and often spooky but also raw, heartfelt
and dynamic."

Lys Guillorn Three Songs (EP Review) – Palebear.com August 9, 2006
"Three Songs are three of the prettiest home-recorded folky tunes to hit our ears in awhile. Shades of Edith Frost, Tarnation, and many other indie country artists bloom forth on her songs. [...] The music has a country garden feel but with a good dose of darkness to it so it’s not “skippin’ in the garden” country."

Amy Rigby Mixes Vulnerability And Experience – Hartford Courant, October 12, 2003 by Eric R. Danton (excerpt of review of show at the Space in Hamden, CT)

Danbury native Lys Guillorn performed before Rigby with a borrowed band, the Sawtelles. They played a set of brilliant and unusual songs that borrowed elements from pop, folk and alt-country to create a startling original sound.

Tunes such as "Impossible" and "Little Wren" subtly subvert traditional song forms, and the effect is like looking at an image through cracked glass. With her low, dark voice and sometimes unsettling lyrics, Guillorn is among the most creative and talented musicians on the Connecticut scene.