Q&A: Exploring Climate Grief and Catharsis: Lily of the Sea’s Sonic and Visual World
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SUBCONSCIOUS AND SUSTAINABILITY – Under the moniker Lily of the Sea, New York City-based artist Lily McMahan isn’t just making music—she’s crafting an entire universe. Her work exists at the crossroads of sound and vision, where the raw emotional power of 90s grunge meets the timeless symbolism of folk art and mythology. It’s not just a sound or a style; it’s a fully immersive experience.
Lily of the Sea’s newest single, “Hey Now,” pulses with a cathartic energy, like the release of long-held tension, yet carries a reflective intimacy that makes you feel as though you’re eavesdropping on a conversation she’s having with her own subconscious. “It’s searching for a cathartic release,” she explains, “just letting it all come out.”
For Lily of the Sea, that search isn’t limited to her music. Her creative process stretches far beyond sound, blending natural dyes, second-hand textiles, and slow-making techniques to craft the visuals that surround her songs. Whether it’s an album cover, a handmade textile backdrop, or the imagery in her music videos, every element feels imbued with care, intention and a deep connection to the earth.
“I focus on creating materials that align with the messages of my songs, which often connect to the environment and themes like climate grief,” she says. “Instead of using synthetically dyed, mass-produced threads, I work with plants and natural materials, which has been a really meaningful experience.”
That story is rooted in themes that feel both personal and universal: climate grief, femininity, the subconscious, and the delicate line between human and environment. McMahan’s work, whether in music or visual art, holds space for both beauty and tension. There’s a reverence for the natural world woven into her textiles and lyrics, a sense of mourning for what has been lost and a hope that some balance can still be restored.
The result is a body of work that feels as tactile as it does sonic. Listening to Lily of the Sea is like stepping into a vivid dream—one where the boundaries between the individual and the collective blur, and the weight of mythological symbolism presses against the rawness of grunge guitars. There’s a timeless quality to her music, but it’s unmistakably rooted in the now, a reflection of the challenges and emotions of the present moment.
Lily of the Sea’s debut album promises to expand that world even further, bringing listeners deeper into her vision.
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, who is Lily of the Sea and what inspires your artistic style and sound?
LILY: Musically, I'm really inspired by 90s grunge and alternative rock. I love the vocal styles of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Chris Cornell and Layne Staley, like all those grunge icons that have this rawness and really emotional voice that inspired me. When I was originally learning to play guitar, that was the big drive. I would play their songs over and over again. In terms of artistic style, I'm very inspired by handcrafted techniques and mixed media art. I'm really into folk art and mythology and integrating those two strands into my project.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
LILY: I think particularly with “Hey Now,” sort of an experience of catharsis and being able to create an immersive world that you can retreat into.
LUNA: What inspires you to push boundaries within your sound? Are there any specific experiences, artists, or moments that have encouraged you to explore new musical territories?
LILY: My experience in the natural world and connecting to the environment in a more personal way has been such a huge inspiration. I think living in a city like New York, it's really difficult to process news of climate change and the overwhelmingness of the current situation of the world, so finding ways to connect to even small moments with street trees or watching the pigeons in the park, just things that can take you out of your human experience and put it more into context has really inspired me lyrically and relating my experiences to what I observe in the natural world.
LUNA: You just released your newest single “Hey Now” and it captures your signature blend of rawness and immersive storytelling. Can you share the inspiration behind the song and what it represents for you personally or artistically?
LILY: I wrote that song when I was feeling really overwhelmed with relationships, and then also with all the turmoil of the world. The way that I process that is writing songs in my room on my acoustic guitar, which evolve into these big, grungy, more anthemic songs. It started on my acoustic guitar, and it felt like a stream of consciousness, like almost having a conversation with my subconscious. I'll start playing chords and then the words start spilling out, and then I'm able to go back and refine and create more of a storyline. The inspiration behind “Hey Now” is searching for a cathartic release – especially in the bridge – just letting it all come out.
LUNA: What did the creative process look like? How did the song evolve from its initial idea to the final product?
LILY: I recorded the song at home in my basement, and it was really awesome, because I was able to have a lot of time tracking the song. The way that I've usually played music is acoustically or with a band, and then having people create the other parts. The songs that I released so far, I was able to spend time with the acoustic tracks and the rhythm guitar electric tracks, and then go in and write bass parts and write the lead guitar part, and then the solo at the end, I was really proud of so I feel like I'm just able to take this song that's really small, and then obviously working with my producer as well and build this universe.
LUNA: How do you think “Hey Now” builds on or differs from your previous releases?
LILY: My first two songs, “The Fruit Tree” and “Honeycomb,” I feel like “The Fruit Tree” is more of an epic storytelling. There's lots of fluctuation in terms of song dynamics and the storyline, and then “Honeycomb” is melancholic and more introspective. “Hey Now” is more in your face. It's my favorite one that I've released so far. It just captures what I want to say.
LUNA: Do you have a particular routine or environment that helps you access the emotional depth required for your music?
LILY: That's a good question. I think just playing guitar and switching out of a mode where you're in your life and coming into singing, because singing is such a different experience than just talking. I feel like things can flow out of me in a way that doesn't happen when I'm talking to a friend or writing in my journal. I feel like just that moment of the stream of consciousness is really a ritual in itself, like switching from the mode of living your life to being deeply in yourself.
LUNA: Do you envision experimenting with new mediums or collaborations in the future to expand your immersive universe?
LILY: I'm actually working on an album right now, and I'm really stoked to share the cover art. I spent two months employing a bunch of natural dyes to work with embroidery. I created my own materials, and then the album cover is two months of embroidery. That's exactly how I've been trying to approach this project, is creating more physical elements, because I feel like everything is so digital now. I focus on creating materials that align with the messages of my songs, which often connect to the environment and themes like climate grief. Instead of using synthetically dyed, mass-produced threads, I work with plants and natural materials, which has been a really meaningful experience. I definitely want to open myself out to more collaborations. I go to art school right now in New York City, so I have a lot of friends that are really talented, and I want to collaborate on the upcoming music videos, work together and see what happens.
LUNA: I would love to hear anything you would like to share about the upcoming record!
LILY: My debut album is 12 tracks. It's called Slow Violence, and which is a phrase coined by Rob Nixon. He has a book called Slow violence in the Environmentalism of the Poor. It's basically the theory that the way we view violence is so immediate and so sudden, and then juxtaposing that with this more creeping, not as immediate violences which often affects women, minorities and communities that are particularly environmentally vulnerable. The album focuses on those, not necessarily immediate violences, but the build up over time, and then I'm hoping to create a space where people can process that and experience emotional release.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the upcoming year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
LILY: I'm really feeling like it's obviously the beginning of my musical career and so there's so many possibilities that I really want to focus on honing in to creating a visual identity. Coming out with this album, I want to establish my artistic style and direction and then begin playing live shows and creating more music videos and lyric videos with different mediums and collaborating.
