Lucinda Chua is a London-born cellist and composer of mixed English, Malaysian, and Chinese heritage.[1]

Lucinda Chua
BornHammersmith, London
Genres
Instruments
Labels4AD
Websitehttps://lucindachua.com/

Biography

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Lucinda was born in Hammersmith to an English mother and a Chinese-Malay father from Kuching.[2] They moved to Milton Keynes when Chua was 10.[3]

Lucinda learned to play piano by ear at the age of three. At the age of ten, she was allowed to take up the cello, which was her wish ever since she heard a string quartet playing "Pachelbel's Canon in D Major" on a family day out in Covent Garden.

She left Milton Keynes to study photography at Nottingham Trent University. There, she also took an elective course on lo-fi music production, by the end of which she had a CD with seven songs. During her studies she played gigs with bands and she often played as a support act for visiting artists like Bat for Lashes and Martha Wainwright.[4] She also became one half of chamber pop duo Felix which issued two albums before disbanding.[5] She toured with Stars of the Lid and later became FKA Twigs's cellist during the Magdalene era.[6]

Only after the pandemic[7] struck and all tours were canceled, she started to work on her debut album Yian, named after Chua's middle name in Mandarin which translates to "swallow".[8] She cites PJ Harvey, Cat Power and Talk Talk as her music influences, along with Otis Redding and Nina Simone who were often played at her house while she was growing up.[9]

Discography

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  • Antidotes 1 (EP, 2019)[10]
  • Antidotes 2 (EP, 2021)
  • Yian (2023)

References

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  1. ^ "Lucinda Chua: 'I felt ready to make music without needing to ask permission'".
  2. ^ "Inside Lucinda Chua's house of sound". The FADER. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  3. ^ Balram, Dhruva. "Lucinda Chua: 'I wanted to create my own language'". Loud And Quiet. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  4. ^ "Lucinda Chua: 'You have to invest in yourself as a solo artist'".
  5. ^ "Lucinda Chua Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & Mor..." AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  6. ^ Joshi, Tara (2023-03-11). "One to watch: Lucinda Chua". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  7. ^ Mullen, Matt (2023-03-15). "Lucinda Chua: 'In my production, I'm just trying to carve out a space where I feel like I belong'". MusicRadar. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  8. ^ "Lucinda Chua's 'YIAN' Takes Flight".
  9. ^ "Becoming auntie: Lucinda Chua on how music helped her find a community". gal-dem. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024.
  10. ^ Zhou, Minna. "Lucinda Chua : *YIAN *". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-08-01.