L U K I

EPK

bio

LUKI (Lucy Duncan) is a singer, songwriter and performer exploring the depths and careful staging of song. Mixing the heartfelt and the irreverent, the magical and the mundane, Luki’s music creates a sense of time and place out of joint – a kind of science-fiction-music for sensitive souls.

 

Based in London and collaborating regularly with Misha Rivers (producer and synth maestro) and Robbie Ellen (Personnel), Luki is currently working on a new album.

 

Previous works include Wisps on Glasgow’s experimental tape label GLARC in 2018. This collection of eight songs sees her exploring the far reaches of her voice in English ballads like ‘Sweet Suffolk Owl’ and ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ to the Music Theatre of Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes in ‘Lonely House’. Her song ‘Plum Wine’, was featured on Nick Luscombe’s BBC Radio 3 Late Junction show ‘Ones to watch from BBC Music Introducing’.

 

In 2020,  ‘The Parts’ was released on  lathe-cut 8” single with Sheffield label Sonido Polifonico. This project was a collaboration with producer Misha Rivers and marked a turning point towards more explicit experimentation with electronic sound. Luki’’s work has been featured on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, Roddy Hart’s show on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Tees and Amazing Radio

discography

Seven Years Below the Flowers’ tells the story of the spellbound musician, drawn to the underworld by the promises and allure of the menacing and beautiful Fairy Queen. The song takes inspiration from the tales of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. 

Released on Staying Out Records (April, 2024) ‘Seven Years Below the Flowers’ was written by Robbie Ellen (Personnel) originally for a computer game created by Holly White. 

Luki’s take on ‘Seven Years’ uses synths (Misha Rivers), guitar (Harry Christelis), and subtle sonic atmospheres to create a ‘tour de force of pop-orientated strangeness’ (Richard Bull).

• Credits •

Performed by Luki
Written by Robbie Ellen
Arranger/ Producer by Lucy Duncan
Synths: Misha Rivers
Guitar: Harry Christelis
Mix: Lucy Duncan & Misha Rivers
Sound Engineer: Jack Patterson
Master: Alessandro La Barbera
Special Thanks to Josh Grigg & Robbie Ellen

SINGLE + MUSIC VIDEO

Staying Out Records [SO008] ⁝ Digital release (April, 2024)

In the music video, Luki plays the bewitched musician tempted below the flowers by the Fairy Queen, played by performance artist Fiontasia. In a fantasy world taking inspiration from folk horror and the iconic BBC Narnia adaptation,s Luki and the Fairy Queen, accompanied by a host of freaks and faeries, invite you to ‘a dream made all that’s real’


The music video was the collaborative creation of Staying Out Collective. The world below the flowers came to life in a kitchen in Surbiton with very little budget and reams of paper. Set designed by Lettice Drake (who also plays one of the bad-booshkas). Lyndon Harrison, Jess Wear and Robbie Ellen helped create and build the set as well as playing the fellow bad-booshkas and tree people. The Fairy Queen costume was designed and made by Fiontasia. All other costumes were mostly improvised the day before the shoot, guided by a united aesthetic, and years of dressing up together. Josh Grigg on lighting and lasers. John De Lima behind the camera. Fernanda Munoz-Newsome guiding movement and group choreography. Ed Webb-Ingall as the essential chief wrangler. Ines Maria Krämer on well being. Lucy Duncan (Luki) directing, playing the hapless human and editing the film into its final form. 

“A tour de force of pop-orientated strangeness”

 

(Richard Bull)

LUKI’s new double A-side is a step into a new sound world. In contrast with the spare arrangements of voice and piano on Wisps, in this new work – developed in collaboration with producer Misha Rivers – her striking soprano voice and piano combine with an ensemble of live and sampled electronics and percussion

• Credits •

Written and performed by Lucy Duncan

Produced by Misha Rivers
Mastered by Samuel Joseph Smith [Green Door Studios]

Cover Art by Robbie Defacto

DOUBLE A SIDE

Sonido Polifonico [SP023] ⁝ 8″ Lathe cut vinyl and digital release (March, 2020)

“Duncan’s remarkable voice comes through more clearly than ever, extemporising in her upper range like an English Mary Margaret O’Hara, then knocking us out with her alto” 

 

(Stewart Smith, The List)

Recorded at Glasgow’s infamous Green Door Studios, Wisps sees Luki exploring the far reaches of her voice, piano and narrative lyricism across eight songs.

• Credits •

Vocals, Piano and Synth: Lucy Duncan
Producer (tracks 2,3,6,7,8): Misha Rivers 
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Green Door Studios

EP

GLARC [0009] ⁝ Cassette tape and digital release (Dec, 2018)

"Sweet Suffolk Owl" woodland gathering by Mathew Cunningham

“Duncan’s witchy soprano, elegant piano and synth create a sense of time and place out of joint, as if Delia Derbyshire and Brian Eno had set up shop in an Edwardian parlour.”


(Stewart Smith, The List)

press

“A tour de force of pop-orientated strangeness” (Richard Bull)

“Duncan’s witchy soprano, elegant piano and synth create a sense of time and place out of joint, as if Delia Derbyshire and Brian Eno had set up shop in an Edwardian parlour.” (Stewart Smith, The List)

“Astonishing Voice” (Bob Fischer, Radio Tees)

“Duncan’s remarkable voice comes through more clearly than ever, extemporising in her upper range like an English Mary Margaret O’Hara, then knocking us out with her alto” (Stewart Smith, The List)

“Wisps, is absolutely stunning. Deadly simple, with just piano, voice and synthesizer, Luki carries the songs with restraint and her mesmerising vocals. In ‘Gelsomina’,  just after the chorus line a strange synthesizer sound – part trumpet, part voice, part Theremin – appears suddenly. This is perhaps a perfect summation of how much Luki’s music sounds like it should be in a mysterious, enrapturing film – it’s narrative driven, evocative, and with delicate touches of the surreal” (Nick Potter, Pink Wafer)

contact

For all enquires please contact:

lukiduncan@gmail.com