The artist formerly known in these parts as Wally, aka Kurt Heasley, unfurls yet another kaleidoscopic banner cut from the retro cloth of Lilys’ Better Can’t Make Your Life Better. “The 3 Way” is, again, set within the universe of Invasion-era, Something Else Kinks. Lilys’ dandyish Merseybeat, however, comes full of the contemporary complexity and flourish for which the brothers Davies didn’t have time between fistfights. The group’s fascination lies in its ability to change keys and voices (on “Socs Hip,” they’re particularly posh) and subgenres mercilessly, on the whim of their nutty genius. Sometimes derided for their chameleonic copycat MO (they began in D.C. as Heasley’s shoegazer fan letter), the revamped Lilys require devoted listening, but their modern beat-pop rewards in the end—throwing banjo runs and vaudevillesque tom-toms at us for novelty—and able-bodied drummer Aaron Sperske somehow manages to retain his signature grooviness amid the colorful arrangements. An ambitious epic, “Leo Ryan (Our Pharoah’s Slave)” tells its tale elliptically, drawing us further into Heasley’s psych world—it’s a moment when Lilys clearly rise above slavish imitation with shades of easy listening, light funk, and disco. “The 3 Way” never wears its psyche on its sleeve. Rather, it merely accents the spacehead singer’s lines with right-on, rich sonics. Lilys are masters of a certain craft; no wonder they’ve stuck with it. —John Dugan