Article 321, Originally Published on September 14th, 2026
It was April of 2025 when I first heard a Lily Seabird song. She had just released her second album, Trash Mountain, and I was utterly blown away by it. I started digging into her work and I discovered her first album, Alas, and that discovery introduced me to an album that firmly sits in my own personal top 10 albums of all time list. It is seriously that good. It’s embarrassing how many times I’ve listened to that album in the last year and many times it has ended and I’ve just let it start right back over again. I’ve bought both of these albums on vinyl. The only thing I’ve left to do is to see her live in concert which. She has been through Nashville a few times but I’ve always been out of town when she is here. Now, she is coming back for Americana Fest and I am hoping I will be able to see her then. It may be the last chance I get to see her before she absolutely blows up.
Earlier this month, she released her third album, Lightspheres On Their Way, in physical form, ahead of its digital release on October 3rd. Already, I’ve seen some noteworthy press about this album. An interview and album review on Paste which you can read here. a review on Stereogum, including being named their “album of the week,” which you can see here. She has also been touring ahead of the album extensively, across the US, the UK, and Europe. Earlier this year, she released the standalone single, Demon in Me, which briefly seemed to turn some heads. Personally, I was really excited about that single. I felt the build was extraordinary and showed Seabird’s composition had reached a new level of genius.
It wasn’t long after Demon in Me was released that Seabird announced her third album and the anticipation has been excruciating. She hasn’t left her growing pool of fans wanting though. In June, she released the lead single, Election Day. In July, she released the second single, Portal to the Past. In August, she released The Afterglow. Then, on September 1st, she released the title track, Lightspheres On Their Way to coincide with the physical release of the album. So, for those who haven’t bought the record, they’ve now got the chance to hear 4 of the 9 songs featured on the album.
Every album Lily Seabird has ever released has been cohesive, from start to finish. Before I get into Lightspheres On Their Way, I want to say that hasn’t changed here. What I like about her choice of singles though is how different each of them are. Yes, they all flow together and fit nicely in the bigger picture, but these four songs really have their own identities. Perhaps she is well aware of that and this is the reason these songs were chosen as singles. There is no doubt that the decision to release these songs has been good and it is paying off. It really seems that she has more momentum this time around. More than the momentum she had for Trash Mountain, when she was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, and more than she had when she released Demon in Me, which I really thought she might break through and be one of the bigger names being talked about in alt-folk. Now, she has tens of thousands of people listening to her on a monthly basis and her crowds are getting noticeably bigger. She may be on the precipice of something here.
Lightspheres On Their Way
Lightspheres On Their Way is the third LP by Lily Seabird, an independent recording artist out of Vermont. It released September 4th via Lame-O-Records via physical copies (vinyl and cd) and will release on October 2nd on all streaming platforms. At nine songs, it runs just under 50 minutes in length.
The album opens with The Pulley, which begins with an ambient, airy flow. It is acoustic with a harmonium supporting instrumentally, played by Daniel Snyder. Seabird brings her audience in with the questions “Is beauty the pulley? Your mind the weight?” It is a beautiful and perplexing song. It gives the listener the chance to really clear their head from any distractions that might prevent the music and its message from being absorbed.
The second song, Bindlestiff, picks up a bit of tempo though it remains driven by acoustic guitar and percussion. The delivery of her vocals are her trademark sound but she sounds so much more assertive. I’ve thought she sounds so much like Dylan or Leonard Cohen. Her voice, a unique vehicle transporting her words to the ears of her audience.
Election Day is the lead single off of the album and it is musically one of the more intense songs on the album. This one sounds like it belongs with some of the best 90’s grunge that was ever released. It is a rock song in it’s purest form. It is angry, it is loud, and it is enveloped with emotion.
” Well I heard the bells ring out and I was already lost to the black out on the beach, saying things I don’t mean behind your back. I would’ve already blown myself away if she didn’t beat me to it yesterday. Now I’m drunk on election day, looking for someone who’ll let me pay.” ~ Lily Seabird
Side A Closes out with the songs Pennsy, which is a song that is enriched in a roots sound and has a solemn tone musically, and Portal to the Past, the second single that has been released. Portal to the Past is diversified in its electric guitar and dynamic percussion, while also being highlighted by a cello accompaniment, played by Eliza Niemi, that controls and maintains the distribution of energy throughout the song.
“Then I saw the lines on my hands and the marching band just fades away. Replace it with a dull roar of booze and cocaine sitting on some guy’s porch a thousand miles away. Well, I said I’d give you everything, but time took it all away. And just before these lightsperes well, they go and fade to black, know I loved you more than anything and I’d never take that back.” ~ Lily Seabird
Side B starts with the song Blackstar, which delivers a line that grabs me right at the start: “Vomiting in the wholefoods, I heard that the end of the word was soon..” I just love how layered her lyrics are. There is so much that is open for interpretation. I feel like I get a lot out of her lyrics and I have no idea if I am correctly understanding what she’s saying. Musically, Blackstar is a consistent feel of a resolution coming. It performs as if something remains “just around the corner” and it helps root a clever anxiety throughout.
Next is Slipswitch, which is an acoustic ballad that really showcases Seabird’s ability to stun in a minimalist approach. She is so good with an acoustic guitar in hand, letting her lyrics pour out of her. This is one of the most powerful moments of an album full of powerful moments.
The last two songs are Aftergow and the title track, Lightspheres On Their Way. I love Afterglow because, musically, it brightens the overall tone of the body of work as it draws to a conclusion. It sort of resolves the prior built anxieties as well. It also features another stellar cello accompaniment by Niemi. I really love the end of the song and how it sort of sails away. Lightspheres On Their Way is highlighted by the harmonium intro and the electric guitar supporting Seabird’s vocals. It sounds and feels like an end. Seabird absolutely pours herself into the song. It leaves me feeling like I owe the album silence after listening to it; like I need to think about what I heard and what it means. The band comes in and delivers such a big and anthemic ending. It plays out, and just drifts out into the atmosphere from where it all began.
Final Thoughts
There is this paradox where fans try to gatekeep certain independent artists in an effort to protect them from being tainted by mainstream success. I understand why. One of the most tragic tales in music folklore is that of the band Hot Chelle Rae. I saw them at 12th and Porter in 2007 in Nashville and their performance was electric. They were already working on a release, they’d just been signed and there was no doubt that they were going to have some mainstream success. Then, I didn’t hear anything for a little while. Until I did. It wasn’t the same, to say the least. I think the resulting music they released is the very fear most underground fans experience of artists they love crossing over.
Lily Seabird is an exception to this rule. She has found her voice and her sound in a time where it makes so much sense. She is so rich and authentic, she could be the face we plaster on posters protesting the rise of AI music. She is so organic, she could be the name we reference when we explain how digital music is becoming too generic and programmed. She is so rooted in who she is, she could be the example we think of when somebody has the opportunity to take all she wants and instead takes just what she needs and continues to give. This all sounds heroically glorified but that is what music is for fuck’s sake! Music is most influential when we are at that breaking point until we listen to The End of the Beginning and, instead of breaking, we are transformed! Music is buying a vinyl record and cherishing every second it spends on that turntable, knowing it had to earn its way to get there. Music helps us find ourselves in the chaos.
Lily Seabird doesn’t just do these things. She encompasses them. My opinion of her grows every time I hear her, and it started with me questioning whether or not she might be a genius. Now, I believe she is a generational talent. A voice that, not only should be heard, but has to be heard. Lightspheres On Their Way is yet another sensational album. Everybody should be talking about it.
Go press play.
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