by Charlie Bailey (@hectic_skeptic)
Vermont-based Lily Seabird has always been a storyteller. She puts feelings and sentiments into words that no one else can find in combinations no one else would think of. Her latest album, Lightspheres on Their Way is pure poetry informed by “transition, transformation, and acceptance.” Back recording with a full band, Lightspheres merges Seabird’s confessional, rambling lyrics with her innate rocker sensibilities, all augmented by the expansive Garrett Linck production. We talked about the album as really being a right place, right time scenario and I think that hits the nail on the head. A perfect, dark, yearning collision of moments aligning spawned an album that really takes root and grows inside you with every listen. It gives voice to the brooding thoughts, the modern angst, and the ever-painful feelings of loss and its wake. Seabird builds a uniquely intimate world which appeals at such an intensely emotional and personal level that it's really quite a feat that its sounds and sentiments are so universally resonant.
Lightpheres expels all of the pent up anger and tumult of a world on fire and just what that means to Seabird personally. An album drawn together by grounding itself in our current moment, it’s fitting that I met with Seabird while she was on a walk and I was able to pick up some of the Vermont ambiance. At the end of our call in the 1% phone rant, running to the car, the realest shit came out. We talked about the decision to release her album a month early and the feelings around the reception, her upcoming full-album-playthrough tour after opening up for Black Country, New Road, and a whole lot more.
Naturally, talking about a piece of art this emotional, I started with the hard-hitting questions…
photo credit: Noah Lenker
Charlie Bailey: What’s your favorite autumn activity? Obviously you’re in Vermont, the seasons are changing, your music and vibe just reminds me of nature and something about this album is just perfect for fall.
Lily Seabird: That’s true I do love nature. My favorite autumn activity… I mean the best thing about autumn is being in autumn and just going outside and walking around. But I really like going to the pumpkin patch and going apple picking. I have a lot of friends that work on farms. I do this thing with my roommates where you can do a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) pickup from a local farm and there’s so much squash right now. I’ve had like three different dinners with friends this week that have been around the squash. I really love the autumn foods; squash, apples. We have an apple tree in my yard and where I live is called Appletree Point. I love making apple stuff, pumpkin stuff, squash stuff with my friends.
CB: I know your album [Lightspheres on Their Way] has already been out for a month physically, but you’re leaving for tour soon and it will come out officially on streaming when you’re traveling. How does it feel, that physical release and then how do you think it’ll feel once the album is out for everyone knowing that you’ll be away; will that change your feelings?
LS: Well, I’ve never been pregnant or had a baby but it’s almost like I’ve been in labor and the album is halfway out, like the head is halfway out but the whole thing is not out. If I’m like a woman giving birth to a baby. Sorry that’s a really weird metaphor. I’m not going to tell you the other metaphor I had when I was joking with my boyfriend but maybe you can infer. To be fully honest I'm like ‘did it lose the steam?’ and I just hope people listen to it. I got a lot of press the week it came out physically and now the world is so ‘click’ ‘click,’ ‘move on.’ So I just hope people listen to it once it’s out fully. I’m really excited for it to come out and not be explaining what I’ve done because I think I confused people. I still feel good about the way we put it out. But I’ve been getting a lot of Instagram messages, this month it’s been like “iT SaYs YoUr AlBuM iS oUt, WhY CaN’t i LiStEn tO iT.” I’ve been responding to so many messages — you can go to a record store, you could go on Bandcamp and buy it. It’s weird, we’re not used to it!
CB: Have you been able to interact with people who have listened to it physically, has that been a big plus of releasing it this way whether that’s face to face or online?
LS: Yes, I have gotten lots of messages of people saying it’s been so cool to listen to it as a record. Lots of messages and emails. I’m excited for the confusion to be over, I’m excited for the album to be everywhere, I’m excited to play all these shows. I just announced these headline shows with my band where we’re going to play the whole album through. I’m excited to play with Black Country, New Road but we can’t play the whole album because we’re opening.
CB: I saw them a few times last year on their first tour run and it was really cool. I don’t feel like your guys’ music is all that similar… but maybe the writing aspect. It’s a little bit untraditional, rambling, with many ideas and not necessarily repeating in song structure. That’s where I saw the connection.
LS: That is the connection! At first I was like, ‘what the hell, how did they find me?’ I was honored. They’re definitely the most commercially successful band we’ve opened for by a really big margin, so that’s cool. When I got the offer from my booking agent I was just wondering how it happened. I am stoked about that. I was also confused because their music is almost jazzy and classical in ways and my music is not really like that. Since doing so many press interviews it has given me some clarity. To be able to talk about your art you're able to process or digest what's happened. “What did I make,” “what did I do?” To talk about it gives me more clarity because sometimes it feels like I’m disassociating or free associating and the music is happening and I’m just doing stuff. Having to think critically about my work is productive for me in a way. Since doing interviews and hearing people say that my songs aren’t linear, like I don’t do verse chorus, verse chorus, there’s expansive parts and instrumental parts. I have a lot of songs with pieces that don’t repeat and Black Country, New Road also has that so maybe that’s where it makes sense.
CB: What does it look like when you are writing? Is that a solitary thing and then the music comes later? It seems like you’re a writer first and I’m wondering how the music fits into your process.
LS: Yes, that’s also been this thing that I’ve been processing. There’s so many kinds of music, musicians and processes. I was watching Angine de Poitrine this summer. Do you know about that band?
CB: Is that the French band that dresses up super crazy?
LS: Yes they’re actually Quebecois. So they’re my neighbors. I live about an hour and fifteen minutes from Montreal which is where that band is based. I live like forty minutes from the Canadian border.
CB: You can just drive over?
LS: Yeah, and the Canadian border close to me is actually French. It's kind of a cool cultural vibe to be so close to. Anyways, I was watching this band and I was thinking that it's the most opposite of what I do. I was like, “Wow… I wonder what it’s like to come up with this kind of idea. I wonder what it’s like to come up with music that doesn’t even have words.” I realized I’m definitely a writer first. I didn’t go to music school, I studied English and Political Science. I haven’t always been a singer. I was kind of a bad singer; I was told that before. I don’t have a very classic voice. I’ve found my way of singing through writing and it's more talky. My writing is lyrics, poetry and then I turn it into music. Oftentimes I’m writing the words and I’m singing into nothingness. There’s melody, but the instrumentation comes later. I think I’m more of a storyteller. I’m resistant to labels, resistant to everything, but singer-songwriter is I guess what I’m doing. I hate that they usually call women singer-songwriters and then men get some way cooler label.
CB: Right I’ve noticed that too.
LS: But I feel like with this album I’ve kind of broken that. I haven’t been getting as many weird gender tropes. I’ve been able to be like, “This is my art and I worked really hard on it.” But yeah, definitely writing first music second. I think rhythm is especially important. I tell my band to picture everything we’re doing as a drum. If there was a big ghost playing a drum kit and we are all extensions.
CB: So you guys are the individual drums.
LS: I’m a snare drum, someone else is a tom, the drummer is a kick drum. We should all think of each other as a rhythmic unit and that goes with the rhythmic meter of the words.
CB: So it follows the writing first and foremost. If you’re thinking of poetry, that definitely has a meter, it has a beat to it. It’s all flowing through that.
LS: Writing is one of the only things I do by myself. I don’t really like being alone. Throughout my life I was like “I wish I was mysterious and I liked being alone like these burdened and searching men.” I’m just so not like that. I hate being alone, my thoughts run wild. The only time I’m alone is if I’m writing, or I guess doing shit. I’m usually hanging out with friends or collaborating, jamming, making soup, going for a walk. Trying to find some kind of way to engage with the world around me because I’m a deep feeler and connector. But writing is my solo time where I shut the door, and this is what came out of that.
CB: So what did the collaboration look like? You recorded with your band and it was produced by…
LS: Yeah me and my band, produced by my friend Garrett [Linck]. He’s played bass for me before and he’s kind of part of my band even though he doesn’t really tour with us.
CB: Is he still playing with Greg Freeman too? I think I found you guys at the same time, same scene.
LS: Yeah we used to play with each other so you’ve probably seen me play with Greg. I left Greg’s band and when Greg was no longer in my band (logistically we were both just touring too much) we both then asked Garrett to be in our bands. So for a minute we both shared Garrett. He’s one of my best friends who lives in Maine. We’ve done a lot of recording projects like making the demos for my last two records, the Alas, acoustic record I did with him, and we’re gonna make the next record together too. We made all the demos last September and then we went back. Mainly me and Daniel [Snyder], my drummer, had some chill sessions and I was playing and giving ideas like, “What if the drums were like boom, bomboomboom.” It was very chaotic because no one had any time. We did all of it in the time between Christmas and New Years. The day after New Years we left for Maine to record.
CB: That’s only a week!
LS: Yeah it was pretty rushed, but I kinda like that. I’m on the first thought best thought, or whatever, first take best take. Is that what it is?
CB: I don’t know, sounds right.
LS: Lot’s of it we figured out as we went and thought it sounded sick, and then it was like “Oh shit. It’s done.” We had more time. I had more time scheduled with Garrett in February. But when we left on January 6th we all thought we might’ve just finished the record. We worked all day and all night. Garrett had never mixed an album and he hasn’t produced that many records, but when you’re with your friend and the vibes are right we knew that, okay, this is the time. It’s been cool to see some people say “The production is crazy!” I’m like yeah, that’s Garett y’all should hit him up to produce your records. It’d be sick if he didn’t have to work his desk job. I want to keep working with him and I’m really proud of what we made together with the little experience we had.
CB: The album is really awesome! I’m also interested to see the widespread reception once it releases digitally. It’s great as a whole album which is why I think the physical release was a really cool move. I’ve been listening through downloaded files so each song stops after it's finished and each song stands alone too. It’s very expansive which contrasts well with the personal and introspective lyrics. Definitely more rock, more unrestrained compared to your last album. Was that a conscious decision or did that get drawn out of you a little bit?
LS: I think this album came out of a deep period of transition, transformation, and acceptance. I’m in my Saturn return right now… In my life up until now I’ve been a people pleaser, really anxious. Doing this was like “Fuck it. I’m just gonna do what I wanna do and say exactly how I feel. I’m gonna take some risks.” As a woman I’m very sensitive to all of the misogynist bullshit in the world, especially as a female guitar player. I’m a writer and I’ve been playing in bands my whole life. I hate when I get off the fucking stage and some fucking guy is like “Wow you can actually play guitar.” Just let me fucking be!! When you say actually it makes me feel like fucking shit. I’m gonna go insane. I’m sick of hearing actually, I’m sick of hearing whatever. I’m going to play guitar how I want to play guitar. I’ve always been afraid to take risks because if you do some riskier shit you can sometimes flop on your face. I’ve played it safe, I’m not playing it safe anymore. The songs are really dark because I was feeling really dark. In the past I’ve edited myself with all these “what ifs.” No more barriers. Fuck it.
CB: It’s definitely a good switch-up and in comparison to your last album, it sounds exactly how you’re describing it. No barriers.
LS: With Trash Mountain I didn’t really know what I was doing— well I did know what I was doing, but I didn’t have a band and I kind of thought maybe I was gonna stop. I don’t know, it was just what happened in the moment. That was the first record I put out on a label so it got way more spread around. I have two other albums out, which are more similar to Lightspheres than Trash Mountain, I think. With the latter I wrote those songs and no one was available to play at the time I wanted to make it. I don’t like to sit on ideas so it just was what it was at that moment. Me doing this now isn’t like “I’m doing something different.” This is always what I’ve been doing with a band. I’ve always been a rocker. I made one soft album! I still play solo but that doesn’t mean it’s delicate. Maybe I feel like I have something to prove, but I think all women feel like that. It sucks because men don’t know what that’s like— to feel like you have to prove yourself. I’m impassioned on this subject and that’s how I was feeling when I made this.