LUCI Shares New Single 'Gnarly' From Debut EP 'Juvenilia'

Rising artist LUCI (pronounced Loo Chē) will release her debut EP Juvenilia on September 23 via UK label Don't Sleep. Across the EP LUCI's incomparable vocal dexterity and incredibly self aware and reflective mindset are on display as she explores everything from empowerment, self reflection, pride and completely unfiltered self expression.

Written over the course of 2 years, it was brought to life through collaborations with a number of artists and producers including Glass Animals' Edmund Irwin-Singer, who mixed the entire EP.

Today fans can experience another taste of Juvenilia via LUCI's new single "Gnarly" which was recorded with Tickle Torture (Elliott Kozel) and and Safe Jazz (Jesse Schuster). Of the song she notes, "This song is just about being in your bag. Poppin yo s and backin it up! My music is about digging deeper inside to find your gold. You don't have to bury or tame anything. You need to be diligent and sure - people love to be struck with striking authenticity. The video feels a lot like I am lighting the world up from the sunken place."

LUCI has previously shared "Trippin Trippin Trippin" which debuted via an "Origins" feature on Consequence who called the track "expressive and electric" (read the full Q&A here). Before that she dropped Juvenilia's opener "Ash & Dust."

With a sound that blends genres from hip hop and R&B to psych-punk, LUCI isn't your average rapper or singer, she is an expressionist. As her eclectic, multifarious sound reveals, LUCI finds inspiration from everywhere; from line, color, and cinema, to her friends who took her to Punk shows where she fell in love with the chaos of mosh pits.

Now based in New York, LUCI was and raised in Charlotte, NC where creativity was always a part of her life (and no doubt in her genes - her great-great paternal uncle is John Coltrane). Certain that painting was her career path, she majored in fine art at NC's Northwest School of the Arts.

While there, music - which had been an extension of her visual expression - became her primary focus. LUCI eventually formed a (now defunct) band called Defbeat - who drew comparisons to groups such as Death Grips, Portishead, and Massive Attack. In 2018 following a move to upstate New York, she threw herself into figuring out her sound with three years working on her own and self-teaching production on Ableton. "Ash and Dust" is the first official output of that work.

In the age of social media, LUCI is an anomaly having previously spread her art mainly through word of mouth. The training she has had in movement - from ballet to traditional African dance - has led to raw and often visceral performances. While identifying as gay partially informs her art, her musical influences span genres, she loves Kanye, Lil Wayne and Tyler for their contribution to what hip hop music has evolved to; the off the chain metal bands of her youth like System of a Down, Metallica and vocalist Ollie Sykes who inspired her to pick up live instruments and find new ways to write; Drake and Future for their no-holds-barred approach to wearing their hearts on their sleeve and artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Jack White and Macy Gray with whom she shares those haunting vocal qualities with.

Watch the new music video here:

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