Lucy Day - A Trick Of The Light

Here at DIY, it’s with a creative mind and a musical ear that we welcome the familiar sight of aspiring indie songstress’s sashaying their way onto the new music scene. They emerge Nash, Marling to name a few carrying their own unique vocal and instrumentation arrangement to set them apart in an already bubbling genre. Lucy Day, an acoustic artist from Derbyshire, both passes and fails on said acquirements. It’s all very new here, Lucy’s début ‘A Trick Of The Light’ is a roughly mastered six track EP with only a few tracks creating a great sense of stir to the soul.

Opening track ‘A Trick Of The Light’ introduces us to the main strength on the album, Day’s vocal abilities. This ability should flourish with the use of strong instrumentation and complementing percussive effects. Instead, at times throughout the track it all sounds a tad patchy, weak and honestly, a bit flat. ‘A Trick Of The Light’ has no great sense of movement, there is no authority or track crescendo rather it flows from beginning to end and exits safely with no great impact. Music has the power to uplift the soul, trigger thoughts and tap into that addictive side of our personality (yes, let’s admit it - we all have one) and leave us eager for more. Sadly it’s with only a handful of tracks that Day can pull off this charm.

However, as a newbie Day provides a stable enough platform for herself as a début. Furthermore it could be argued that tracks like ‘Oh Desire’ and ‘A Fire In The Sea’, while holding the same unstructured flow as ‘A Trick Of The Light’, could be cleaned up a bit and tightened with the aid of a professional recording. Day, like many artists these days, recorded this EP in her bedroom, a method where few artists can achieve that polished sound.

Stripped of fussy awkward instrumentation is where Day excels. A back to basics personal approach on ‘A Personal Disaster’ displays a soft, innocent emotion in her voice. Stand out track ‘Our War’ an upbeat catchy pop number proves that maybe, with practice, Day will make perfect.