When listeners first encountered Lily Seabird’s music via her 2025 sophomore album, Trash Mountain, it was easy to categorize her within the burgeoning 2020s alt-country scene. Tracks like “Trash Mountain (1 pm)” captured the twangy, indie-rock aesthetic that has gained significant traction following the success of artists like Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman. However, as Seabird’s latest project, Lightspheres On Their Way, demonstrates, that initial impression only scratched the surface of her artistic range.
A Departure From Genre Expectations
While the influence of Neil Young is palpable in the gritty guitar work of “Portal To The Past,” the core of Lightspheres On Their Way leans into a more expansive, atmospheric territory. Seabird utilizes long, patient song structures and a persistent drone—a hallmark of the Velvet Underground—to create a meditative listening experience. Despite name-dropping the Grateful Dead and Ween as inspirations, Seabird is quick to clarify that her work is not a foray into jam-band territory. Instead, she prioritizes a ruminative form of exploration over technical instrumental prowess.
Reflecting on her recent appearance at Americana Fest in Nashville, Seabird admits that the “Americana” label feels somewhat restrictive. “I don’t even think I make country rock,” she notes. “I grew up in Pennsylvania; I’m not from the south. I was raised on punk rock and Ween and the Grateful Dead.” She suggests that her association with the genre may stem from her history playing in bands that utilized pedal steel guitars, though she emphasizes that her own sound is more accurately described as “singer-songwriter rock ‘n’ roll.”
The Art of Patient Songwriting
A defining characteristic of Lightspheres On Their Way is its deliberate use of space. Seabird allows her compositions to unfold slowly, resisting the urge to clutter the soundscape. “The atmosphere before the song, really setting the vibe and setting the tone instead of jumping straight away into it, is important,” she explains. “These are songs that deal with time and how we perceive time, so it makes sense that to be able to contemplate these themes that there is the time to do it.”
This patience is a direct result of her diverse musical influences, ranging from the ballad-heavy storytelling of Bruce Springsteen to the hypnotic, repetitive drones of the Velvet Underground. For Seabird, the music is as much about texture as it is about lyrics. Having spent years as a collaborator in other projects—most notably with Greg Freeman—she developed a keen ear for how a band functions as a cohesive unit, rather than just a vehicle for a single songwriter.
Finding the ‘Dark Air’
The conversation inevitably turns to Ween, a band that has deeply influenced her creative philosophy. Seabird admires their refusal to conform to industry expectations and their ability to shift sounds across albums. She notes that while her record doesn’t sound like a direct homage to Ween, it captures a specific, heavy atmosphere. “It’s the feel of the Ween audience,” she says, describing the “dark, heavy air” that permeates her latest work—a reflection of the grief and memory that anchor her songwriting. By embracing this intensity, Lily Seabird has crafted a record that demands patience, rewarding the listener with a profound, meditative depth.
