Lydia Luce – Mammoth

Today, Nashville singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Luce releases her stunning new album Mammoth.

Produced by longtime collaborator Jordan Lehning (Kacey Musgraves, Joy Oladokun, Caitlin Rose) and recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, Mammoth reflects the natural world and the stillness in it. The new single, “Belly,” illustrates how Luce comes to trust herself over the course of the album, reassuring herself as she sings “We grow, so slow / We might not see it some days / Take rest, we get to start again / So many ways.”

Lydia Luce explains the origin of “Belly”: “This song was written when I was deep in the struggle with chronic pain. I had been lying to myself and those around me, because I was afraid that if I admitted I was in pain I would lose work as a session violist. I remember playing certain songs live on guitar and being so nervous to play bar chords because the pain was so intense. Yet, I kept playing for years. It all came to a head when I was about to go on a tour opening and playing violin in the band I was opening for. I was in rehearsal and I couldn’t feel my fingers. This was new and terrifying. Still I didn’t say anything. I used KT tape and kept on going. The bridge of this song is a coming to terms moment when I just accept the pain because the more I hide it the worse it gets. Once I started listening to my body and respecting my body’s boundaries, I started to heal. I have developed a connection to my body that I never had, and while I’m not grateful for the pain, I’m grateful for the outcome and the awareness.”

From the sweeping title track to the dreamy “Wisteria” and the tender lullaby “Florence,” Mammoth is bound by a common thread of self-love, hope and acceptance, along with a fervent belief in the serendipity of the last few years. These songs are equally inspired by the ambient compositions of Luce’s solo Lethe music project and the natural surroundings of the UK countryside, with sounds of blowing winds and morning birdsong woven into the instrumentation.

#lydialuce