Luci — Enigma (2020)

In March, the Ukrainian singer presented her first long-awaited full-length "Enigma" to the audience. We explain why this is a confident application to get into the top of the year. 

Закривай свої очі
Я подбаю про сни
"Забуття"

(Close your eyes
I`ll take care of your dreams
"Oblivion") 

In the post-Maidan period of our history, we saw how Ukrainian-language pop music seemed to get a new impetus. In addition to the expected post-Soviet pop singers and Western trendsetters, a "new wave" of bands has entered the market, embodied in such ambitious projects as ONUKA, YUKO, Khrystyna Soloviy or KAZKA. They are very clearly characterized by their ethnic tinge and devotion to the Ukrainian song tradition, which contrasts with modern technical and stylistic methods they use. The peak of this phenomenon was the international success of the song "Cry" by KAZKA and its video on Youtube. But after a short moment of ecstasy, it became clear that something was wrong with this "new wave".

While being well-produced and using up-to-date means of music-making, these songs clearly lack substance, when it comes to lyrics. The romanticization of domestic violence still sells, so why reinvent the wheel? Also, as our second President Leonid Kuchma said: "we’ve been there before." Just watch the gala-concert of ChervoNa Ruta circa 1999. Among the expected mix of hip-hop and alt-rock at least 5 bands performed ethnotronics, some of them being moreinteresting and original than their modern descendants. So you say, 20 years later, all the changes we can afford are better production and choreography? Hell no, there is always hope that someone will break the ice and go beyond the box, giving us not only good songs, but also a new style. Today, this hope is embodied by Люсі (Luci) and her new album.

The first impression that the listener could get in 2017 from Luci`s video "Enough" is her likeness to Russian-language singer ЛУНА (LUNA). The same fragile young femininity, the aesthetics of cold eroticism and hypnotic seduction against the background of empty interiors and sentimental urbanism. Cold synths with soft beats only intensify this feeling. However, Luci's voice is completely different and she sings more often than she whispers, which is a big advantage. The second video, "Марія Магдалина" ("Mary Magdalene") continued the same cold synth-eroticism, but the further, the more you could see the project's own style emerging.

After that, Luci released two more singles in 2018 and kept low profile for two years. The first single, called "Ной" ("Noah"), gently fuses biblical and romantic themes. At the same time, we see the transition from cold aesthetics, which is also reflected in the video for this song. The second track, "Прощатися назавжди" ("Goodbye Forever") was a collaboration with the Russian band Электрофорез ("Electrophoresis"). This is definitely my favorite one among Luci`s songs. The last time Ukrainian pop music flirted with darkwave and gothic aesthetics so genuinely was 1999 song "Брудна як ангел" ("Dirty as an Angel") by Julia Lord and Scriabin. This one turned out even better, especially with this ominous sound of Russian-speaking singer Kurochkin singing Ukrainian-language lyrics. This collaboration was not included in the album, which is, in fact, a sound solution as it is too much out derived from the entire picture of the record.

Finally, on March 16, the album "Enigma" was released. Christina, singer of Luci rejected the previous title "Марія Магдалина" ("Mary Magdalene") because she didn’t want to emphasize this song and associate herself with this biblical figure. But the religious connotation still remained, because in combination with the content of the record one can primary associate it with the band Enigma and their religious music experiments. The album`s cover, where Christina is sitting on a horse against an autumn landscape, gives us absolutely no information about the singer or the music. But if the purpose of the cover was to make the image even more mysterious, then it certainly works. Simultaneously with the album, Luci released a video for the closing track – "Hа дні" ("At the Bottom").

Musically, it's hard to nitpick this album. Notable figures of Ukrainian electronic scene helped to write music for the tracks - first of all Daniil Senchikin, better known as Bejenec, as well as Koloah and Pahatam. Keeping its aesthetic in the scope of metamodern culture, Enigma also managed to develop its own face. All along the way this album gives us deep, soft and gloomy synthwave songs with rather intellectual lyrics and solid vocal melodies.

Lyrically, Luci uses a good shtick on this album: she reinvents the Ukrainian pop music of the 1990s, when the lyrics were sensual but also abstract. Listening to "Ной" ("Noah") or "Марія Магдалина" ("Mary Magdalene"), you can simultaneously feel sexually desire and existential crisis. Listening to the dance track "Пекло" ("Hell"), you can hear gloomy lines about the "nine circles of madness". She often uses words like "loneliness", "oblivion", "sleep", she also describes world as "useless". There are obvious allusions to biblical themes, the culmination of which is the "Ворота" ("Gates"), the most robust track on the album, which speculates about an engagement to Jesus Christ. The trick is that all events and feelings here have nothing to do with the outside world and take place exclusively within the mind of the lyrical heroine. This is probably the most valuable quality of this record.

It is no exaggeration to say that many people were waiting for Enigma. It is unknown whether is everyone satisfied by it, but the album turned out to be a quality work and will probably make it to the top-10 lists at the end of this year. Clever and sensual pop music with recognizable vocals and modern sound can never be redundant, especially with such an uncertain music industry as Ukrainian. In the future, Luci may be a part of the musical renaissance that we all needed. Right now she just created a landmark album.

Album at the streaming services

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Luci in social networks:

Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/lucimuz
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pg/lucimuz/posts/
Bandcamp https://lucimuz.bandcamp.com/