Lucy Kitchen is a British folk singer-songwriter based in Romsey, Hampshire. Her songs explore profound concepts of grief and loss, drawing inspiration from lyrical poets, nature, the seasons and the art of creating beauty out of difficulty.

Two previous albums were released on her own Bohemia Rose Records -the 2014 debut offering Waking and the sophomore Sun To My Moon in 2017. Lucy has also made recent contributions to RE:WARM Records Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Vol. 2 and Sounds Of Southampton Vol. 3. She released The Stabal Sessions EP in 2023, a sonic tapestry of melancholic melodies and personal storytelling. Lucy’s forthcoming album In The Low Light, is set for release on 27th February 2026 via Bohemia Rose Record/Make My Day Records.

Lucy joins is for a Why I Love on on Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star

ON HER OWN TERMS

I was 17 when I first heard Mazzy Star. I remember making the trip to The Record Shop in Kingston upon Thames. Wearing my Mum’s 70s leather jacket and a pair of my Dad’s old flares, buying So Tonight That I Might See on vinyl with some of my busking money. I still have that record…it’s a little warped but it still plays.

Hope Sandoval’s voice is unmistakeable. It draws you in on a hazy promise. Everyone has heard Fade Into You but I always loved Five String Serenade best. Stripped back with beautiful strings and Hope’s vocal draping over the top. I loved feeling Mazzy Star’s music gave me. That the lyrics are always a little dreamlike, matched by that distinctive voice. The flip between psychedelic droning guitar epics that feel like a road trip across the desert with Hope’s incantations and cool edged folk.

I have always loved artists with a hint of mystique to them. Ones who don’t feel the need to explain themselves, who just make music and let that speak for them. Harder and harder to come across in our current society with social media and everyone feeling like they have to give more and more of themselves away. And Hope is one of the best at being as unknown as one can be in the public eye. Playing very few shows, famously leaving the stage if the audience talks too much. Seemingly doing it all on her terms. We all wait endlessly for a hint of a new record.

A VIBE LIKE NO-ONE ELSE

I was ecstatic to finally get to see Mazzy Star play live in 2012 at Shepherds Bush Empire. I’d waited forever for this show but it was full of contradictions. Disappear was so good I almost cried, but Fade Into You was out of time and didn’t hit the high I was expecting. But it was magic nonetheless.

I followed Hope’s music through her releases with Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine as Hope Sandoval and the Warm Invention. Three beautiful albums of dream pop with tinges of folk. Dreamy songs such as On the Low, The Peasant and Treasure all with Hope’s signature voice. Her collaborations with Massive Attack, The Spoils and Paradise Circus giving me my favourite sad electronic music hit.

I can go months without listening to her music, but once I start again, I’ll listen to albums on repeat, just like when I was 17. There’s a vibe she catches like no-one else that pulls me back to a part of me that’s always been there, trying to be cool like her, although I’ll never be able to sing like she can.

Our thanks to Lucy for her insights into an inspirational influence.

Here’s The Boatman from the new album:

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

Lucy Kitchen: Bandcamp

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