Lucie Silvas shows off broad taste in music on new album
Lucie Silvas has come a long way since she stormed the charts in part of Europe with her singles ‘What You’re Made Of’ and ‘Breathe In’. After releasing two albums, the singer-songwriter realized she needed change and started travelling, ending up in Nashville. Silvas settled there and released her third album Letters To Ghosts independently back in 2015. Now, three years later, record number four is out and it is called E.G.O.. It is easily Lucie’s most versatile record to date.

In an interview with A Bit of Pop Music, Silvas explained how the album was inspired by the music she personally loves. It is safe to say that she has got an eclectic taste as the album effortlessly hops from genre to genre. The album starts off strongly with her latest single ‘Kite’, an upbeat, empowering rock track about a woman who follows her dreams and won’t let anyone hold her back. The gorgeous ‘Girls From California’ sounds like it was inspired by the 60s sounds of Cher and Nancy Sinatra, with a haunting melody, dreamy backing vocals and an overall vintage vibe that brought Lana Del Rey the biggest successes of her career so far. ‘Black Jeans’ is understated radio pop with warm vocals, some atmospheric strings and a chorus that deserves all the airplay in the world.

Although Silvas works from Nashville these days, it would be way too simplistic to define her music as country. Sure, you hear the influences of her current hometown in tracks like ‘My Old Habits’, which finds a comfortable spot right in the middle of country, pop and rock or the banging drums based chorus of ‘First Rate Heartbreak. At the same time however, she delivers a classic piano ballad (a style on which she excelled at the start of her career too) ‘Just For The Record’ with an absolutely heartbreaking chorus. On the warm and romantic ‘I Want You All To Myself’ she shows that she has got soul too, belting her heart out over minimal instrumentation until the track pushes itself to a bombastic climax.

Lyrically, E.G.O. (which by the way stands for ‘Everybody Gets Off’) is a more observant body of work. “The record talks about the fundamentals of human behaviour; the funniness of how we act and how most people are not very good studies of themselves, including myself”, Silvas explains to A Bit of Pop Music. The rocking title track talks about how ‘everybody gets off on the fame and the glory’, while Silvas admits: “I’m as guilty as the next person for going on about how fame is bullshit and vapid, but wanting it at the same time. I like to think of the album as a case study.” She clearly studied some behaviour around her as well as Bluesy rock tune ‘Smoking Your Weed’ is about a guy who is blinded by the girl who just hangs out with him to do exactly what the title suggests. ‘People Can Change’ tells a story about two people reconnecting as friends after a break up within a bigger picture of the believe that people can actually change and better themselves.

This however does not mean that Silvas keeps the personal stories from us. ‘Everything Looks Beautiful’ and the above mentioned ‘I Want You All To Myself’ are both soulful odes to her husband John Osborne (Osborne Brothers) and love in general that will appeal to a lot of love birds and deserve to become first dance classics at weddings. Lucie Silvas shows an extraordinary talent to mix genres into a cohesive record with lyrics that mix the personal with the universal. E.G.O. is hands down her best work to date.