Lydia Luce’s latest single is the sound of an artist cutting herself a break. “It’s a love song to self,” says Luce of “Ephemeral,” which features guest vocals from British indie-folk troubadour Luke Sital-Singh. “When I had to go back on tour after my injuries, I made a promise to take care of myself no matter what.”
In 2023, the Nashville singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was diagnosed with a clutch of ailments, including a herniated cervical disc, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow and an inflamed bone. At one point, the pain was so bad that Luce, who runs the Music City-based string collective Lockeland Strings, could barely function as a session violinist. Surgery was the only solution.
Mammoth, Luce’s third LP, is her comeback album after two years of hell. Recorded in a single week at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios near Bath, England, Mammoth was produced with longtime creative collaborator and Lockeland Strings cohort Jordan Lehning (Kacey Musgraves, Caitlin Rose). Inspired in part by the more ambient direction Luce undertook while recovering at home, the album is an intense, multi-textured, mood-driven journey. Its folk and Americana underpinnings respire like heavy breathing, its rich layers of instrumentation coaxed to life by aural glimpses of the natural world. And like much of the music on Mammoth, “Ephemeral” finds Luce in a more centered place.
“I hadn’t earned my body’s trust—and if I was going back into this environment, I had to do it in a way that would honor my body,” says Luce. “The moment I asked my friend Paul Hammer to play guitar for me on tour, I felt the stress fall off my body. I made more and more decisions like that. I brought my own pillow; I booked aisle seats on planes so I could stretch; and I asked for help constantly. Now I completely trust myself to make the right choices for my body.”
We’re proud to premiere Lydia Luce’s “Ephemeral.”
—Hobart Rowland
