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Doors: 6pm | Show: 8pmThe Lounge at World Cafe Live
Public Onsale Begins: Friday, February 9, 2024 10:00 AM
Tickets: $15 - $20 + fees
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On her new album Florida Girl, Lydia Luce offers up a body of work graced with all the transformative beauty of watercolor, at turns delicate, dreamlike, and instantly potent in its emotional realism. The second full-length from the Fort Lauderdale-born singer/songwriter, Florida Girl matches its luminous form of indie-folk with an in-depth examination of Luceʼs inner life, exploring everything from mortality to body image to the ineffable intricacy of human connection. As she bares her soul and unburdens her heart, Luce slowly embraces her own infinite complexity— ultimately arriving at the self-possessed state of mind that inspired the albumʼs title.
“To me this record is about accepting all the different facets of myself, instead of trying to hide the parts that I maybe felt uncomfortable with in the past,” says Luce, a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist whose background includes playing viola/violin for legends like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. “That includes leaning into the fact that Iʼm from Florida, which is such a weird and mysterious land that people tend to have preconceptions about. It feels really freeing to get to the point where I fully know who I am, and Iʼm not so worried about what anyone else thinks.”
The follow-up to her acclaimed debut Dark River (a 2021 LP praised by the likes of No Depression and Paste), Florida Girl finds Luce joining forces with her longtime friends and bandmates Anthony da Costa (a musician whoʼs worked with Joy Williams and Michaela Anne) and Aaron Steele (Joy Oladokun, Portugal. The Man), who helmed the deliberately unhurried process behind the albumʼs production. “In the past Iʼve always done weeks of pre-production and known exactly what the plan was once we got into the studio, but this time was much more experimental,” says Luce. “We all
just trusted each otherʼs instincts, and the whole experience felt very fluid and organic.”
A perfect introduction to Florida Girlʼs shapeshifting soundscape, “Never Enough” opens the album on an elegant piece of psychedelia laced with moody guitar tones, resplendent piano melodies, and gently cascading rhythms. “Iʼm someone whoʼs always looking to the future, and my life is constantly giving me lessons about how important it is to be in the moment,” says Luce. “ʻNever Enoughʼ is about trying to appreciate the present, rather than constantly reaching and seeking more than what you already have.” On “The Other Side,” pounding drumbeats and fierce guitar riffs converge for Florida Girlʼs most explosive and existentially searching track. “During the pandemic, when death was on everybodyʼs mind, it felt so cathartic to write a song about death thatʼs mostly just asking questions and not looking for any definitive answers,” says Luce, who penned “The Other Side” with her frequent co-writer Raymond Joseph. Threaded with ambient and unearthly interludes (including several pieces featuring the brightly bubbling sounds Luce captured while scuba diving), Florida Girl also contains such unexpected moments as “Saline”—a heart-on-sleeve track that begins in hushed simplicity, then bursts into a joyfully frenetic statement of devotion. “My relationship with my husband was very
tumultuous at the start, but we did a lot of work and finally settled into the really beautiful place weʼre at now,” says Luce. “ʻSalineʼ is a promise to him, telling him Iʼm choosing to be in this and Iʼm going to keep choosing it every day.”
All throughout Florida Girl, Luce finds so many spellbinding forms for her nuanced self-expression. To that end, the lush and haunting “Your Garden” looks back on a past relationship and discovers a newfound freedom from the pain of attachment, while “(H)our Glass” lends a bit of lived-in poetry to Luceʼs reflection on her effort to stay present (from the chorus: “I canʼt taste the skin of a shadow/I canʼt place this feeling in my head/I wonʼt hold the hand of tomorrow/Hour glass of falling sand”). On the albumʼs hazy and hypnotic title track, Luce slips into a moment of gorgeously detailed
storytelling steeped with the ache of nostalgia. “ʻFlorida Girlʼ is about one of my closest friends growing up and the guilt and heaviness I felt after we had a falling out,” she says. “We hadnʼt talked in about ten years, but the week I wrote that song she texted me and said she was coming to Nashville. We ended up getting together, and it was so powerful to reconnect with her as this new version of me.” And on “Face and Figure,” Luce presents the albumʼs most intensely personal track, an emotionally raw but radiant meditation on her journey toward true self-love. “Iʼve struggled with eating disorders for most of my life, but over the past few years Iʼve gotten to a much healthier place,” she says. “I wrote ʻFace and Figureʼ as a way to remind myself that Iʼm more than my looks or my weight or whatever anyone might see on the outside. It took me a long time to get a place where it felt safe to share that part of my story, but itʼs felt so healing to finally take that step.”
Naming the impressionistic songwriting of artists like Damien Rice and Joni Mitchell among her longtime inspirations, Luce first began writing songs of her own in her early 20s, expanding on the refined musicality sheʼd honed since taking up classical violin as a small child. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, she worked at world-music label Smithsonian Folkways Records, later relocating to Nashville and establishing herself as an in-demand session musician. In 2016, soon after making her debut with her 2015 EP The Tides, Luce founded Lockeland Strings—a Nashville-based
community arts organization that hosts a monthly showcase of local artists accompanied by string quartet arrangements, alongside performances of new contemporary classical pieces from local composers. With past guests including country superstar Kacey Musgraves, Lockeland Stringsʼ profits go toward nonprofit groups like ACLU of Tennessee and Girls Write Nashville. “It started as a house show in my living room and grew so quickly,” Luce recalls. “I love being able to offer a way for people to experience string music without having to pay whatever it would cost to go to the symphony, and I hope to continue doing that for as long as I can.”
With the release of her most intuitively realized and imaginatively composed work to date, Luce hopes to provide listeners with a listening experience thatʼs transportive on multiple levels. “Iʼm very much drawn to songwriters who create a beautiful visual world with a strong underlying meaning, and Iʼd love it if these songs could paint those same kinds of stories for people,” she says. “At the same time, I hope the album helps people along in their own healing journeys and reminds them that theyʼre not alone. I learned so much by letting myself be completely vulnerable in these songs, and now I want to keep creating that safe space where weʼre all free to talk about everything.”
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The Lounge is a full-service restaurant & bar that opens at 6pm. All shows in The Lounge are General Admission and seating is not guaranteed with ticket purchase. View menu & make reservations here: https://worldcafelive.com/visit/eat-drink/
World Cafe Live is a nonprofit independent venue where artistry meets social impact. Every purchase helps support our free music education & community programs.
WCL Fan Club members get skip the line priority entry, food & merch discounts, exclusive offers, and more. Mega & Ultimate Fan levels include early access to ticket sales and no ticket fees. Learn more & join the club: https://worldcafelive.com/fanclub
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3402, United States,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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