Running away to find herself
British singer Lucie Silvas discovers independence, authenticity in Nashville
NASHVILLE British singer-songwriter Lucie Silvas started her career with a successful major label debut in the United Kingdom and writing songs for other British pop acts. After crossing the Atlantic for Nashville, she’s found her voice again as a skilled and independent retro pop stylist.
Silvas, born in the U.K. but raised in New Zealand, said that after the second record came out in the U.K. in 2006, she was already feeling like she was moving in a different direction from her music label. She found a new musical community in Nashville, where she’s been welcomed by the city’s songwriters and artists.
“It felt like running away at first,” Silvas said. “What I found that I had either missed or wasn’t finding in the U.K. at that time was just a musical community, or a feeling I could get back to writing and just singing songs without feeling like I had to be something, that I had to be on a particular path.”
Even as a non-country artist without the backing of a major label, she’s been opening for country artists Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town and Miranda Lambert. E.G.O. is the second record she’s put out since moving to Nashville, and she explores pop music’s soul and rock origins with lyrics crafted as a seasoned storyteller.
“I love all things ’70s,” Silvas said during a recent interview at H. Audrey, a clothing boutique owned by Holly Williams, granddaughter of country icon Hank Williams. “With the album, I wanted to bring something like that in. But I don’t want to be so throwback that it doesn’t feel new and new to me and new to anyone else.”
Silvas teamed up with longtime friend and British producerwriter-artist Jon Green (James Bay, Kylie Minogue) to draw on various musical inspirations, including Motown, The Beach Boys and Bonnie Raitt. But Nashville songwriters and musicians are also all over this record, including acclaimed session guitarist Derek Wells, hit country songwriter Natalie Hemby and her husband, John Osborne of the country duo Brothers Osborne.
“With E.G.O. suddenly I was at a point where I am still independent and I’ve toured with these amazing country artists,” Silvas said.
“Who is it that I am? Who is it that I’m happiest being? I’ve got a lot of things that I want to draw from, but I want to do something that is truly unique to me. I don’t want to worry too much about where this places me because I just want to go in and record songs I love.”
The title track, which stands for Everybody Gets Off, is an “anti-pop pop song,” Silvas said. It’s a tonguein-cheek takedown of celebrity culture in the age of social media.
“It’s become so convoluted having your normal life on social media and it’s really bothered me for a long time and yet I’m completely part of it,” Silvas said. “Because there are days when you feel like you’re invisible if you’re not posting something or you’re not being seen. That’s a real problem.”
Similarly she addresses the pressures of living up to unreal expectations, especially for women, on the song Black Jeans, a Fleetwood Mac-inspired dreamy rock ballad with harmony vocals.
The album’s opener, Kite, sets the tone for Silvas’ new chapter with a foot-stomping track about a woman who can’t be tethered by any man. “I feel like that independent woman a lot of the time because of the circumstances I find myself in musically,” Silvas said. “I feel like I’ve got a great, small team around me that is able to partner with great people just to put this music out on our own terms.”