Lucia – Samsara (Global Records)
Lucia - Samsara
Release Date: Out Now
According to the press blurb that
accompanies this second album by Lucia, she is ‘arguably Romania’s first
Youtube sensation’ which is a definite first in terms of descriptions as far as
I’m concerned. ‘Samsara’ gets straight down to business with ‘Afloat’ and that
business is elfin vocals atop lace-fine instrumentation with the kind of
delicate nature you’d expect from a humming bird or a field mouse. ‘Edge’
continues the spider spun theme but with more drive this time, channelling the energy
and angles of Regina Spektor throughout the quirky pop charm of this track.
Recent single ‘FRTHR’ is powerful and although it has a sense of the
Eurovisions about it, there is still enough sophistication about it to keep you
interested. It’s a strong start to an album, that’s for sure.
On ‘Bounds’, Lucia takes a more
gentle approach with a rangy, keys lead piece that walks the line between pop
ballad and chill-out Trance with precision balance. By complete contrast, ‘The
Perfect Life’ is a perky, piano driven pop piece that is full of hope, the
scents of Spring and an open road rolling out in front of our heroine. The epic
and sweeping glamour of ‘Mother’ is dripping in dramatic elegance as the piano
and strings intermingle like children fighting for attention from Lucia’s masterful
voice. The beat on ‘Food Chain’ sounds like a child running through puddles
before an old-school Ellie Goulding-esque track emerges and then title track ‘Samsara’
soothes and cleanses with an instrumental piece that leads on beautifully from
one track to another.
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In to the closing act of the
album we have ‘Catastrophe’, a song so gentle and icy to begin with you could
easily be lulled in to a false sense of security but it soon emerges as a more
menacing and powerful force that would fit nicely in the darkest-hour moment of
the next Marvel film. Closing out with ‘Holy’, we get a very real sense of the
scale of what Lucia is capable of; sweeping from impish, folk stylings through
to electro-fuelled alt-pop pieces of grandiose stature. Lucia is certainly a force
to be reckoned with and if her music can get in to the right ears at the right
time then we can expect her to start appearing further afield than Youtube or
Bucharest.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/LuciaMariaOfficial/
Live Dates:
19th May – Roaba De Cultura, Bucharest
25th June – Muzeul de Arta, Cluj-Napoca