After spending the last few months growing and cultivating her sound, emerging singer and songwriter Lucy James has now delivered her long-awaited debut single ‘Cloudy Vision’.
Channeling a strong and narrative-driven aesthetic, ‘Cloudy Vision’ makes for a wonderfully powerful introduction to her direction. With her own bright and uplifting vocals riding a bed of wistfully played instrumentation, it feels as though we are only beginning to crack the surface of what she is capable of.
So with the new single available now, we sat down with her to find out more about her background and what has inspired her most over the years.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Hi Lucy, how are you today?
Hi, I’m feeling good thank you! I hope you and the Lost In The Manor team are keeping well too.
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
I would describe my sound as an amalgamation of dream pop and indie soundscapes, combined with my love for jazz harmonics, soul vocals and musical theatre storytelling. My specific inspirations at this point in my life are artists like Adele, YEBBA, Cynthia Erivo, Shoshana Bean, Whitney Houston- honestly, I live for female vocal powerhouses who are confident and direct in what they stand for, and breathe life and energy into their audiences, no matter what is going on in the world.
Do you remember what the first song was that made you want to start a career in music?
I don’t think there was one specific song that sparked my interest in music as a career path, as I knew I wanted to sing, write and play music from a really early age. Honestly, I was the young child that would try and sing the hell out of nursery rhymes like they were power ballads, also feeling that it was absolutely necessary to vocalise instrumental parts too (I’m now sending the sincerest of apologies to my siblings).
I know that there were a lot of albums by Madonna and Whitney Houston playing around the house throughout my early childhood, which led me down the path of discovering many more powerful female vocalists in pop and soul. Embarrassingly enough, I went through a phase in my early childhood of immediately and uncontrollably crying when hearing a key change in pretty much any piece of music- which was a big part of my realisation that I had such an elevated emotional connection with music- but I’m sure you can imagine the kind of state Whitney got me into. Soundtracks from Disney movies also shaped my first perceptions of music in a narrative sense, and later drew me towards musical theatre.
And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
I’m a pretty intense Celiné and The Blue fan- they are an incredibly talented 5-piece soul/jazz band (more like a family) based in Guildford. They are all such individually gifted musicians, so their energy as a collective is completely electric. I became good friends with them at university, and I’ve been missing them so much since moving back to the Midlands, so to still be able to have them in my daily life through their music is the most wholesome thing in the world to me.
My playlists right now are also filled with the works of Lianne La Havas, Jacob Collier, Moonchild, Jazmine Sullivan, Lalah Hathaway and Snarky Puppy, just to name a few!
You have just released your new single ‘Cloudy Vision’. Can you tell us how that track came about? Is there a story behind it?
I wrote ‘Cloudy Vision’ in 2019, when I was in the final year of my music degree. I remember being so overwhelmed and feeling such a desperate need to be more ‘in the moment’, rather than being as distant in thought as I constantly felt. I knew that I’d come too far to then be standing in my own way right at the finish line, so time really was of the essence, and I needed to be able to find a kinder mindset pretty quickly.
I shut myself away from the world for a bit- probably quite dramatically, sat with my guitar (which is far too lovely for someone who couldn’t play it very well) and just played and sang exactly as I felt. I guess looking back, that moment was like the worst and most under-budgeted scene from Glee you could possibly imagine, but in the moment I felt it was something special because it couldn’t have happened more organically. I really hoped it stood the test of time, but I think COVID has shone a new light on the lyrics completely, and more of us feel completely overwhelmed by the world and have the need to find a mindful space to return to.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
At the time I was mainly trying to give myself a space of comfort and consistency, which provoked the celestial imagery, and later inspired the use of a dream-pop soundscape. I also knew that the guiding force of ‘Cloudy Vision’ was going to be the lead and backing vocals and the storytelling, so inevitably my love for musical theatre and jazz/soul vocalists really influenced my approach.
Can we expect a new EP, or even an album from you in the near future?
Absolutely! I have an EP due to release later this year (dates to be announced) which will feel so amazing to put out into the world. I’m especially excited by the scope of genre influence across the EP (there’s dream pop, indie, jazz, soul, big band…) it feels like I get to stretch so many of my musical muscles at once, and I’m absolutely itching to share it- but all in good time!
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
For the rest of the year, alongside my debut EP, I’ll be busy working on a bunch of other projects as a composer, such as a stunning upcoming audio play called ‘Kilburn (not London)’ which I’m very excited to be scoring. The Derbyshire-based project was originally scripted as a stage play, and has since evolved into an immersive audio play (written by Simon Marshall, directed by Omar Khan). Listeners are invited to join Grant (voiced by Louis Greatorex) and
Charlie (voiced by John Booker) as they navigate their final years of high school, highlighting topics such as queerness, care experience and growing up in a small town. All of these layers of personal experience resonate with me so significantly, so I’m especially proud to be involved in delivering a narrative that I love whole-heartedly and feel so connected to. You can find out more information at @kilburnplay on Twitter and Instagram, and even share your small-town love stories with us at hello@kilburnnotlondon.co.uk . ‘Kilburn (not London)’ will be available on all podcast streaming platforms in April (date to be announced), and we can’t wait to share it!
I have plenty of other exciting projects in the pipeline, so please feel free to check out my social media to learn more and join me on the journey!
And finally, what is the best piece of musical advice you have ever been given?
Without a doubt, this excerpt of a Cameo video from Shoshana Bean I got for two of my friends (and obviously for myself too) which I have to memory, word-for-word: ‘Even the greatest of the greats doubt their abilities at times, but really it’s not about your skill or your talent, it’s about your willingness to share your heart and communicate the message of the song, and in doing that hopefully crack open the hearts of the people you’re performing for.’ Since receiving this, I’ve been learning to take the pressure off myself by knowing that I’m giving listeners/audiences everything I can if I’m being honest. I’m such a perfectionist, so the realisation that striving for razor precision in any area of my work can take away from the sense of realism, relatability and emotional intent rather than solidify those things, was such a valuable lesson for me to learn.
This review was created via Musosoup #sustainablecurator