“I keep saying it’s V.V. Lightbody o’clock,” jokes musician and producer Vivian McConnell.
It’s been six years since she released a solo album under the moniker V.V. Lightbody, and a lot has changed. For one, she fell in love and got engaged. But many of the nights between the release of her 2020 record, “Make a Shrine or Burn It,” and this year have been filled with joining other musicians on their projects and stages.
Now, McConnell is ready to step back into the spotlight. “Period Piece,” out Oct. 9 on Egghunt Records, is a testament to the importance of unclenching, of loosening the grip we hold on ourselves and on life in general. McConnell, a self-described people pleaser, is finally learning to breathe. She hopes listeners will, too.
“Period Piece” marks McConnell’s first album as lead producer, a fitting moment for a musician who has refined her skills as of late by playing with other artists. In the years since her last solo LP, she’s played bass in Finom and joined musicians like Elizabeth Moen, Twin Peaks and Fruit Bats onstage. In 2024, she collaborated with musician Daniel Villarreal on Valebol’s self-titled debut. And she’s honed her creative lens, launching a side project producing records mostly for other femme artists under the name “album doula.”
More Top Picks Best Extension Cords For Generators For Home
“I think I’m a pretty giving, present person with everybody I was working with,” recalled McConnell. “I’m so there. I’m giving a lot of myself. So the balance, I’m still trying to figure out how to do it.”
Generous in abundance, McConnell ran out of room for herself. Yet V.V. Lightbody was always cooking in the back of her mind.
“V.V. has not gone anywhere,” said McConnell. “And in fact, she’s been working and learning from other musicians, and she’s been touring, and she’s got a lot to say.”
After the release of the Valebol record, McConnell knew it was time to return to V.V. The result of this creative homecoming is a collection of tender and fun songs that hit at the heart of what it means to navigate a claustrophobic world, where one wants to do right by others yet may struggle to do right for themselves.
The first track she wrote, “Practice Smiling,” was based on the early days after COVID-19 lockdowns ended. Folks had gotten vaccinated, and although McConnell says it was “the best time,” it was also “so awkward.”
“It was so clumsy,” McConnell recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know how to be a human in society anymore.'”
She also recalled taking off her sweater that night and getting a crimp in her back. In the months between the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions and that welcome return to the dance floor, McConnell grew wiser and realized she had been holding a lot in her body. Thus, “Practice Smiling” was born.
Later during the writing process, period pieces became a source of comfort for the musician. Their charm lies in their ability to zoom in on small moments that add up to a life. Seemingly inconsequential interactions or conversations reveal more about the larger stakes of existing in that world. Likewise, “Period Piece,” the record, is a contemporary glimpse of McConnell’s existence today.
“I was trying to figure out how to describe the record, and the phrase I came up with was ‘loosening the life corset,'” said McConnell.
“I noticed I was holding it in my mind, but also physically in my body, a lot of tension. I was clenching all the time, and I know a lot of people experience that. So this record is about attempting to unclench and breathe.”
“Dull Knife,” another track on the record, is about refining yourself and sharpening your blades, about being present, yet making fun of oneself at the same time. “Precious Moments” taps into one’s tendency to be defensive and sensitive, as if moving through the world like a porcelain doll. And “Patience Like a Pilot” focuses on healing slowly, and how patience with oneself is critical to survival.
“There’s a little bit of a coy smile throughout the record,” McConnell said. “I have all these particularities, and I know that some of them make me who I am and are very special. And I think some of them are hurting me.”
“This record’s for people who are overthinkers,” she added.
McConnell said she set out to make an “easy, breezy” record, but “Period Piece,” she joked, is a record “for people who are overthinkers.”
Just like the heart of “Period Piece,” McConnell is learning to let go and trust in herself as a musician, a creator, a purposeful artist meant to take up space in the world. Things like that can be hard for creatives to do for themselves, yet McConnell’s deep work ethic, her keen ear and her abundance of talents prove all she needed was a little time to recalibrate before finding her groove again.
“I’m swinging for the fences,” McConnell said. “I’m serious about this career. I’m serious about this music. I know who I am for the most part, or I’m still figuring that out, and I’m doing it through this record. It feels really powerful.”
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.