A “Portal to the Past” is a very real thing in the world of Lily Seabird. The Vermont musician began writing the song—the latest single from her upcoming album “Lightspheres on Their Way“—after waking up from a particularly transportive dream on a porch in the dizzying New Orleans swelter. The song extends the initial poem Seabird wrote into a sprawling, seven-minute ballad that almost recalls Jason Molina’s twangy slowcore. “Dwelling too much can sometimes create what feels like a portal and bring you right back to where you once were, that’s the portal to the past,” Seabird explains of the song, where she reminisces on a past relationship she once thought might last forever: “Well I said I’d give you everything, but time took it all away,” she croons before an epic instrumental outro, tailor-made for getting lost in your own past too.
Lily Seabird announced her third full length album on a prolific three year run starting with 2024’s “Alas”, then last year’s “Trash Mountain“, and now solidifying herself as an indie rock staple to be reckoned with on “Lightspheres on Their Way”. The album is out on physical formats on September 4th, , joining the likes of Sturgill Simpson in letting their music exist and breathe on physical media before unleashing it on streaming.
Along with the album announcement, Seabird released the first single off the record, the intense heartland rock ripper, “Election Day.” “What choice is there if there’s nothing left to lose?,” Seabird sings over heavy and furiously grungy riffs and solos. While Seabird says the song isn’t literally about voting, you can still hear the exhaustion and uncertainty in the droning riffs that open the track, recalling Bruce Springsteen’s “Downbound Train,” another song about people trapped by circumstances beyond their control.
“Election Day” finds Seabird at her most righteously angry, wailing through enough fuzz and feedback to make Neil Young’s in his Rust Never Sleeps era jealous. Seabird also announced she’ll be joining Black Country, New Road on a tour of the American South beginning in October.
“Portal to the Past” is from Lily Seabird’s “Lightspheres on Their Way“, out September 04th, 2026 via Lame-O Records
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