Lucinda Chua

Using cello, effects pedals, and a handful of other instruments, Lucinda Chua creates an introspective, sensual liminal space between ambient pop and R&B. For many years, the South London-based singer/songwriter, producer, and composer was better known for her collaborations with artists such as FKA twigs and for her time in the post-rock duo Felix than for her quietly striking solo music. However, the EPs that were gathered as 2021′s Antidotes revealed her flair for questioning identity and confronting trauma with openhearted lyrics and deceptively elegant sounds.
Chua was born in London and raised in the small English town of Milton Keynes. At age three, she began playing piano; not long after, she started writing her own songs. When she was ten, she picked up the cello, an instrument she’d wanted to learn for years. Despite her best efforts, Chua felt like an outsider in Milton Keynes, in large part because of her heritage (she has English, Malaysian, and Chinese roots) and found comfort and connection in music. Seeing Mogwai perform with a cellist at the Reading Festival when she was 15 was a revelation to her, and she joined a local post-rock band a year later.
As a university student in Nottingham, Chua took a course in music production and recorded demos that piqued the interest of the venerable experimental label Kranky. Along with becoming a touring member of Stars of the Lid, Chua formed the post-rock-meets-chamber pop duo Felix with Lords guitarist Chris Summerlin. Felix issued two acclaimed albums, 2009′s You Are the One I Pick and 2012′s Oh Holy Molar, before disbanding. Chua then relocated to London and took some time to become a part of the city’s music community, collaborating with artists such as Ben Vince, Helm, and Káryyn.
Performing with FKA twigs as part of the live band for the Magdalene tour encouraged Chua to continue the experiments with cello, effects pedals, and electronics she’d been working on, and in March 2019 she self-released her debut solo EP, Antidotes 1, while participating in NTS Radio’s Work in Progress mentorship program. Antidotes 1 earned strong reviews for its vulnerable songwriting and ambient sounds, and Chua supported it with an international tour as well as the mixtape Strings, which blended classical, pop, and hip-hop tracks. In 2020, Chua composed the music for Clayton Vomero’s documentary 3OHA and signed to 4AD. Her first release for the label, Antidotes 2, arrived in May 2021. That August, 4AD gathered both EPs as the vinyl release Antidotes. ~ Heather Phares