Lydia Luce: Dark River
Teeming with rich and alluring vocals, layers of lush melodies, and evocative lyrics, the sophomore album, Dark River, from Lydia Luce is ripe with reasons to fall in love with this body of work. Her compositions beautifully convey the sentiments she was channeling as she poured her conquered emotional trauma into the project. Even though she only has two albums to call her own, it’s immediately evident that Luce has long been a master of her craft. A string virtuoso at the age of six, Lydia was classically trained by her mother, a professional conductor for the Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, who started Lydia and her brother in music at a very young age. Lydia went on to obtain her Master’s at UCLA in the viola, studied ethnomusicology, performance and songwriting at Berklee, and traveled and studied Ghanaian music and instruments like her favorite, the gyil, which is a wooden xylophone with gourds underneath. She then worked at world music label Smithsonian Folkways Records. Luce said of her involvement with Smithsonian Folkways, “When I worked there, I wanted to be an ethnomusicologist, I think that as an artist, looking back on seemingly random things, I see them as all aligning. I love learning about different things and music and going deep. That experience made me have a deeper appreciation of music and where it comes from, its origins and thinking about that in a way and trying to always promote diversity in my personal music, and in Lockeland Strings, I try to focus on making those shows diverse, culturally and musically.” All of these experiences shaped the music she would ultimately come to make.
The Amp’s Managing Editor, Melissa Payne, talked with Lydia about the creation of Dark River and how it came to fruition. Luce described closing the chapter on the part of her life that led up to the making of the album. She has found peace in that and has now begun a new chapter in her life with the lessons she has since learned. Luce hopes that those lessons and the vulnerability conveyed in the music are receptive to the listener and they can connect with it.
Lydia felt compelled to go deeper with her emotions on Dark River than she did for Azalea, her debut album. This was a cathartic process for Luce who experienced a tumultuous breakup in 2019. In an effort to push past her grief, she took a solo trip to the Pacific Northwest and attempted to climb Mount St. Helens, but fell ill in the Colorado mountains and had to retreat. During her isolation though, she was able to meditate on her sorrow and foster hope which she felt generated a clearer path for her to create without holding back.
Co-producing the album with Jordan Lehining gave Luce the ability to take the project in the direction she most wanted. With her debut album under her belt and tapping into her artistic growth, Luce had a well-defined idea of what she wanted and knew better how to direct that sound. Luce pulls inspiration and music from many genres to create her own sound. Each track on Dark River is as palatable and distinct as the next. Luce texturizes the elements of every song with layers of classical arrangements, chamber pop, and indie rock. Dark River will easily rise to the top of any discerning listeners playlist.
One of my favorite songs on the new album is the opening track, “Occasionally.” The listener is easily drawn in by the warm and emotive instrumentals that seem to float around the alluring vocals that accompany the storytelling lyrics of memories and emotions trying to resurface. The song took on new meaning as it gave validity to the anxiety attacks that Luce experienced after narrowly escaping tragedy in March of 2020 when a tornado tore through her East Nashville home.
The title track, “Dark River,” has a driving rock sound that helps convey the message of not letting anything hold you back. This is further expressed by the accompanying video created and animated by Grouch Bucket. The video showcases Luce traveling through different interdimensional plains, fighting off a herd of monsters and discovering her inner light. Luce explained the inspiration for the song itself stating, “This song is about not letting people take away my energy. I know that when I give myself alone time, especially in nature, I am able to recharge and fill up my cup. This is something that works for me because it forces me to listen to what’s really going on in myself without the external noises from around me.”
The latest released single, “Tangled Love,” is a very airy, orchestral song that examines the toxicity of co-dependency in a relationship; the realization that it will never work but not being able to come to terms with that knowledge and unable to be the first to walk away. Lydia told The Amp that this was her favorite song from Dark River. She also acknowledged, “I wrote it early in the process of writing the songs in this record. This was the jumping point of the new record. This is what started it all.”
Along with training her dog and practicing classical arrangements, Lydia has been spending her time, most recently, listening to new music from Adrianne Lenker and The National. She’s wishing to soon be able to travel and play shows again, maybe give Mount St. Helens another try, and is also hoping that the pandemic-cancelled performances of the Lockeland Strings with the Nashville Ballet will resume. Luce leads Lockeland Strings, a community arts organization that puts on monthly showcases of local artists accompanied by string quartet arrangements, alongside performances of new contemporary classical pieces from local composers.
Luce also announced her virtual album release show will take place on Dark River’s release date - February 26. The virtual event will be streamed from Nashville’s Parthenon as a part of Centennial Park Conservancy's ECHO live performances and is funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission. ECHO is an engaging chamber music series that features new classical music composed and arranged for the unique reverb of the Parthenon Naos and performed in front of a 42-foot statue of Athena. The event will be broadcast on Centennial Park Conservancy's Facebook and YouTube channels. More information on the Centennial Park Conservancy ECHO series can be found here.
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