Celica Cook
Student Writer
Lucinda Chua artfully weaved the rich, dark sounds of her cello with the soft, deep vibrations of her voice to create her latest EP, Antidotes 1.
The music on this EP sounds like a lament. The dark tones on Chua’s voice cast a comfortable shadow. The listener is allowed to feel a depth of emotions when taking in the honest melancholy prose paired with the sinking melodies. The EP breathes on its own with all the moanings of tragedy painted onto a musical canvas. The picture is quite dark and complicated, but there is an intense beauty behind the honesty of the music.
The first song, “Feel Something” opens with Chua’s breathy vocals atop bass notes of a piano as she begs the question, “How high? How far?/How deep? Until you feel it in the beat?” Her questions are simple, yet striking as she settles for no answer as the lyrics move onto to say, “I just want to feel something.” The song is simple in lyric and instrument. It doesn’t ask too much, yet it seems to magically touch the heart of whoever listens to it in a way that only music can do, leaving you feeling connected to the artist and her prose as if you know her personally, and she knows you.
Chua speaks of loneliness and isolation in this EP as if she wrote it behind a one-way mirror where she could see the world, but the world could not see her. Yet, as much as the music touches on this feeling of detachment, there is an element of comfort for both artist and listener in knowing that she is not alone in her isolation. Chua’s music is like a familiar face in a crowd of people as she gently reminds us that feeling lonely doesn’t mean you are alone, and though human pain is inevitable, it is something we do not have to face by ourselves.
Featured image retrieved from drownedinsound.com.