In 2020 Lily Konigsberg of Palberta and Nate Amos of Water from Your Eyes began daring one another to “mess with different sounds,” quickly developing a close bond while gathering the off-kilter, multi-genre-referencing indie pop tracks that became their first release as My Idea, the 2021 EP That’s My Idea. Still active in their respective bands and, for Konigsberg, issuing solo work, the pair returned nine months afterward with the full-length Cry Mfer.
The two had first connected when Konigsberg asked Amos—already credited as producer on albums by Dark Tea and Thanks for Coming as well as Water from Your Eyes—to helm her solo debut; he consented, and Lily We Need to Talk Now appeared in October 2021, the same year Palberta issued Palberta5000 and Water from Your Eyes released Structure. Amid the resulting volatile, briefly romantic friendship marked by competitive songwriting, heartbreak, sobriety, and additional shared experiences, dozens of songs emerged. After signing to Hardly Art the duo placed five of those tracks on the July EP That’s My Idea amid the rush of other 2021 releases; sharing songwriting and production duties, they then delivered the April 2022 debut album Cry Mfer, also on Hardly Art.
