Beyond her art and avant-punk bands Palberta and Lily and Horn Horse as well as My Idea — the indie-pop duo she formed with a then-not-so-indie-prestige-famous Nate Amos — the idiosyncratic songwriting stylings of one Lily Konigsberg have quietly chartered underdog champ territory in the underground for what has to be years flying by now.

Prolific as the Brooklyn artist may have been through a series of singles and EPs, it took her a long minute to get to the point of releasing her solo debut full-length in 2021’s Lily We Need to Talk Now, and it’s taken nearly just as long for her to get back to us after that conversation with anything resembling a follow-up. It’s been time well spent away judging by her new single “Free Byrd”.

Like her My Idea bud’s turn full toward alt-country-fied indie rock on his latest effort, The Singer In My Band, Konigsberg has discovered her own independent assurance in both her craft and self when letting the sun strum and stroke the pen lightly into her song. Even if the occasional side-conversation still perks its way through the warm breeze beneath her wings, this bird now likes to let it roll like water off a duck’s back. “I’m struck by a feeling, it’s both happy and sad / Well, I’ll love you forever but I’m not coming back / And I’m free,” she beams. If you love it, set it so, but in Konigsberg’s case, she’s at her best she just hers and hers alone.

Filmed by: Dan Daniel Brennan

Lily Konigsberg’s “Free Byrd” single is available now on Wharf Cat Records.