Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Tara Joshi

One to watch: Lucinda Chua

Lucinda Chua
Multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer Lucinda Chua. Photograph: Yukitaka Amemiya

London-based Lucinda Chua makes quietly beautiful music. Signed to 4AD (home to the likes of the Cocteau Twins and Jenny Hval), the multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer‘s work hums with a comforting warmth, be that in the electronic echoes of piano and cello, affirming vocal harmonies, or lyrics that speak as though they’re holding you. “You know it’s not your fault,” she refrains in quasi-lullaby on her recent single Golden.

Chua, raised in Milton Keynes, started learning piano at three. She experienced the confusion of different cultural heritages – English, Malaysian and Chinese – and has spoken about trying to understand your identity when you don’t appear to fit anywhere. After studying photography, she moved to London, playing as a session musician (she was FKA twigs’s cellist during the Magdalene era) alongside working on her own songs. She was soon collaborating with a burgeoning community of creatives of east and south-east Asian origin.

Chua’s forthcoming first album, Yian (“swallow” in Chinese), features poised ambient pop topped with Chua’s soothing vocal, mesmerisingly looped over and over, focusing on the act of healing and accepting herself. Once, Lucinda Chua found it discomforting that she could not see someone like herself making this kind of music. With her accomplished debut, she has turned this fear into her power.

Watch the video for Golden by Lucinda Chua.
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.