Lily We Need to Talk Now in Bloomington, MN

While Brooklyn native
Lily Konigsberg
began sharing solo material as early as 2014 in between releases with her free-spirited noise rock band,
Palberta
, she didn't produce a full-length set of her own until early 2021, when
Wharf Cat
issued the compilation
The Best of Lilly Konigsberg Right Now
. Following later the same year,
Lily We Need to Talk Now
marks her official conceived-as-an-album debut. It finds the experimental rocker in the process of homing in on a shape-shifting, soft-spoken indie pop that has more in common with
Frankie Cosmos
and
Amy O
than with her trio, without fully committing to lucid pop forms. Examples of the latter can be found, however, in bouncy, hooky entries like "That's the Way I Like It," the sauntering "Roses, Again," and grungier "Proud Home." Interspersed with these are wide-ranging productions such as a calliope-evoking, part-brass instrumental ("Goodbye"), a fuzzy mumble-rocker ("Bad Boy"), a flute-and-bongos-bolstered disco-funk proposition ("Alone"), and an atmospheric keys-and-strings dirge ("Don't Be Lazy with Me"). The latter is drums-free and consists mostly of wave-like octave tones, touches of twinkling piano and horns, and a male singing partner who dreamily interrupts her repeated request. Speaking of guests, they include members of various
Konigsberg
projects (
Eyes of Love
,
Lily and Horn Horse
's
Nina Ryser
), among others, and it was produced by
Nate Amos
, whose text message inspired the title. The record remains the songwriter's, though, from the quirky "Hark" -- about the challenges of songwriting itself -- right through the racing, punk-injected closer, "True," which looks for the courage to leave a faltering relationship. Given its mercurial disposition and fleeting playing time -- nothing here reaches the three-minute mark --
ultimately feels like a sampler, if one that whets the appetite for more. ~ Marcy Donelson