The Silly Pillows

History

In the early 1980s, Jonathan had been part of punk/psych/experimental group The Killer Asparagus (in the Boston area) and punk pop band The Degrads (in Rochester, NY, along with his brother Sam Elwitt). Jonathan started recording cassettes at home in 1984, and in 1986 he asked his wife Hilary Caws-Elwitt to join him on vocals, choosing the name The Silly Pillows for the project.

The first Silly Pillows recordings were circulated on cassette through the growing network of home tapers, spurred by positive reviews in the magazines Option and Sound Choice (who said that "their whole catalog is essential listening"). In 1992, Hilary decided to stop singing, but by then their cassettes had attracted some attention in Europe. The tracks on the Silly Pillows' first vinyl release, "When She Gets Home," were home-recorded. In 1993, Jonathan assembled a group of friends for the Silly Pillows' first studio recordings, which were released as the "Equilibrium" EP on Norway's Perfect Pop label. The first studio lineup was Jonathan, his co-worker Cheryl De Luke, Sam, and Christopher Earl of Squires of the Subterrain. Over the next few years, more studio recordings were released on vinyl and CD by Perfect Pop and a German label, Little Teddy, bringing the band notice such places as Chickfactor ("It just bubbles over with vintage ambience and playfulness.... and it's more than just slightly pretty") and The Village Voice (making Elisabeth Vincentelli's "Pazz & Jop" top-10 list in 1996).

In 1996, the possibility of a Japanese tour led Jonathan to assemble a lineup that could perform live: Jonathan (vocals), Sam (guitar), Michael E. Fiato (bass), Dave Joachim (drums; later a best-selling cookbook author), singer-songwriter/artist Linda Smith (vocals), and Charlie Zayleskie (keyboards). Although the tour never happened, the Silly Pillows performed in New York and a few other locations, opening for some well-known acts like The Magnetic Fields. Belinda Miller of the kids' radio show Greasy Kid Stuff later became the female co-vocalist; Time Out New York likened the Caws-Elwitt–Miller stage presence to "Mexican jumping beans."

In Japan, where a split single (with Citrus) on Rover Records had reached No. 3 on the domestic singles chart, enthusiasm was high enough that a subsidiary of major Japanese label Teichiku Records released a "best-of" compilation, Pillow Paw Prints, in 1997. New Affections, released in 1998, was the Pillows' last full-length label recording. In 2000, the band set up a temporary studio at the Caws-Elwitt home in Friendsville, Pennsylvania, to record a new project, but soon after the lineup dissolved. The five song EP that had been recorded was released online as Tomorrow Is Yesterday.

After a hiatus, Jonathan began writing and recording at home again. Eventually Hilary decided to try singing again, and as "The Original Silly Pillows," they have recorded a few new tracks since 2005. In 2007, Jonathan, Charlie, and Hilary made two pop-festival appearances as "Silly Piano Pillows."

In 2010, an instrumental rendition of a 1990 Silly Pillows track was released by Nada Surf as part of their covers album If I Had a Hi-Fi.

Style

Stylistically, the band's music has been described as "gems replete with incisive hooks, mindblowing harmonies and solos, and varied multilayered instrumentation with creative stylistic unpredictability and arresting rhythms." Jonathan has stated that his goal is to achieve "exuberance, sincerity, and beauty without sadness."

Side projects

Albums

(The Silly Pillows self-released many cassette-only albums from 1988 to 1993.)

EPs

Singles

Compilation albums

(partial list)