V.V. Lightbody Details New Album ‘Period Piece,’ Shares “Practice Smiling”

Chicago’s V.V. Lightbody has announced Period Piece, out October 9 on Egghunt Records. It’s her third album and the first to credit herself as lead producer, a quiet shift away from the ornate chamber-pop of 2020’s Make A Shrine Or Burn It.

The opening track, “Practice Smiling,” arrives with a theme Lightbody calls “loosening up the life corset.” The song began at a rock show in 2021, her first after lockdowns lifted, when the simple act of being in a room together felt loaded. “Does my smile look okay? How do I order a drink?” she says in a statement, recalling a night that ended with her throwing out her back while pulling off a sweater. That awkward physical cost, she notes, forced a reckoning with a social confidence she’s still recovering.

A spry flute line carries the track, stepping forward while Lightbody’s voice remains poised. The video, directed by Bobby Butterscotch, mirrors that tension between stasis and release. The song also points toward a frustration she observes in live music now: the growing draw of staying home.

Period Piece runs ten tracks, including the earlier “Best Problem” with strings from Macie Stewart. Tracklist and tour dates are below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Practice Smiling”
02 “Satisfied”
03 “Best Problem”
04 “Two Swans”
05 “There Will Be Blood”
06 “Precious Moments”
07 “Dull Knife”
08 “Robocaller”
09 “Patience Like A Pilot”
10 “Blue Within Blue”

TOUR DATES:
09/27 – Urbana, IL @ Pygmalion Music Festival
10/15-16 – Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
11/12 – New York, NY @ The Broadway