Fancy some new old-school funk and soul? If yes, you’re in for some goodies, because this release you’re about to hear is exactly that!
Luchi is a Londoner artist with love for smooth certified-good-times vibes. Her sound can be described as jazz, r&b, and soul-infused vintage pop with sprinkles of gospel. The warm lush sound is carried by her strong emotive voice, not unlike something you’d hear in classic hits from the golden era of funk. Lyric wise the songs look into the seemingly simple things in life, digging into the beauty and complexity of human feelings. Those themes continue on her newest album that’s fresh out of the oven.
Retro by sound and modern by thoughts – that’s how “Alien Girl” is described. It’s Luchi’s debut album that comes with 8 songs, all of which participate in the overall storyline of finding happiness with their own little stories. It’s also her strongest work so far when it comes to songwriting – every song feels like a full-bodied perfection. The songs are sweet on their own, but together they create a seamless experience. The album has some of the smoothest transitions I’ve heard – if those were seams, they’d be the kind of perfection every tailor seeks to achieve.
“Alien Girl is a vintage soul in a modern body. The listener can expect to feel nostalgic and reminisce on artists such as Etta James, Amy Winehouse or D’Angelo and at the same time be immersed in the contemporary world of young people through the very modern lyrical style.”
Luchi
The smoothness is instated by the intro of the album, which is then expanded into the timeless slow atmosphere of “Nice and Quiet”. This song’s vibrant spacious warmth gains a little contrast with melodies with a hard-to-miss twinge of apprehensiveness in “Care For You”. The smoothness is still present in pleasantly long sustain in notes and cymbals.
“I Wanna Be The Wind Again” comes with a dreamy atmosphere – it’s the artist’s emotional voice backed by the piano. It’s a ballad with a minimalistic beginning, but the song soon expands into a full-band experience to put a cherry of ecstasy on top. The title track comes along noticeably more rhythmic with melodies echoing the feelings sung by the artist – a seemingly endless search for something better. The searching mood gets a strong contrast with the following burst of appreciation and happiness in “Thank You For The Fire”, a toe-tapping positivity of a tune.
The rhythmic feel continues in the more daily song of “That’s My Life”, which would work perfectly well as a soundtrack to a part of a movie showing the main character’s life. It’s full of ups and downs, but it’s still comfortably their life. The story ends with subtle, almost muted guitar melodies and wholly feminine vibes that punctuate the modern aspect of the sound perfectly.
“Alien Girl is a collection of songs I wrote in the three years I have been living in London. Initially written on the piano in my room, they were then arranged with a group of exceptional musicians which helped me create the sonic atmosphere you can hear in the record now. It’s a story about love, roots and community. A combination of the past, the present and the future. In tracks such as Alien Girl, it tells the story of my Italian roots and origins, and how despite my love for my country, I felt like I didn’t belong and I needed to come to London to challenge myself. It then moves to the theme of love with tracks such as Care For You and That’s My Life. In the first one, the theme is of the fear of loving someone and getting hurt. In the second one, the theme is of celebration for finally finding someone that makes you feel special and happy. The third and final part of the story is told by Thank You For The Fire, a song about the importance of community. In the three years in London, I was able to build meaningful work relationships and friendship. Without the musicians I made this album with and the support of my friends, I wouldn’t have been able of make this record and despite the celebration of individuality and the importance of believing in ourselves, it’s important to recognise how collaboration makes everything better!
Luchi
I also would like to mention the names of the musicians I worked and wrote this album with: Charles Bioul on bass, Tom Gilbertson on drums and Federico Marchi on guitar. The record was recorded/mixed/mastered by Andrea Cozzaglio and all the backing vocals arrangements which I think are a very special part of each song are all written and arranged by me.”
“Vintage soul in a modern body” is a good description of the album because that’s pretty much what it is. It’s also a wonderful release for chilled evenings!
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You can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Indie Only, Chill – Folk – Acoustic, 12 New Songs This Week, Debut Bands (Off The Radar), and, Female Rising Stars.
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator