Chicago’s Lillian King Unveils Gorgeous Advance Single “Tiber Creek” and Announces Debut Album via Spencer Krug’s Imprint
Lillian King’s debut album In Your Long Shadow arrives October 24th via Pronounced Kroog, with its first advance single “Tiber Creek.”. Written shortly after the passing of her father, “Tiber Creek” offers a haunting glimpse into the album’s emotional landscape, transforming a simple walk across Washington, D.C. into something expansive and meditative. Her father’s ritual walks to the hospital along the National Mall, past memorials, monuments, and the invisible flow of Tiber Creek buried beneath the city, anchor the song’s vivid imagery. Lillian’s voice, warm and mournful, carries a quiet intensity through every line, reflecting on place, memory, and the way certain moments linger long after everything else changes.
“Tiber Creek” also marks the beginning of Lillian’s collaboration with Spencer Krug, whose indie rock resume needs little introduction—Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Moonface. Krug, who rarely steps outside his own projects, connected deeply with Lillian’s stripped-back performances while on tour together in 2024. Signing her to his label, Pronounced Kroog, was instinctive. That rare co-sign lends weight here, but Lillian’s voice carries the story, elevated by her bandmates Robert Salazar (drums) and Nick DePrey (keys), with producer Jack Henry shaping the soundscape.
The track leans into mood more than spectacle: dusty drums, upright bass, and creaky piano lines swirl around Lillian’s singular vocal tone. The arrangement leaves room for quiet moments to land, capturing the bittersweet ache of mid-winter reflection. This is indie-folk at its most elemental, echoing the timelessness of Bill Callahan or Sharon Van Etten, but with a wind-whipped edge that’s entirely Lillian’s.
Fans of atmospheric folk and melancholic songwriting, think Mazzy Star, Big Thief, Rosali, will find plenty to hold onto here. There’s a lived-in quality to Lillian’s delivery that suggests an artist far deeper into her career than this debut suggests. “Tiber Creek” is not an introduction; it’s a quiet arrival, the kind you only notice after it’s settled in your bones. With In Your Long Shadow, Lillian King is clearly stepping into something bigger. Backed by the legacy of Krug and armed with songs that balance vulnerability with undeniable craft, she’s entering a new tier. “Tiber Creek” is just the first step in what promises to be a quietly unstoppable rise.