Yian

“YIAN” (燕), means swallow in Chinese, and is part of “Siew Yian,” the name given to Chua by her parents to preserve her connection with her Chinese heritage. Just as the migratory songbird lives between places, so did Chua, the artist living in the in-between of the English, Malaysian and Chinese cultures that make up her heritage. In the absence of Mandarin as a mother tongue, music became a way to express the parts of herself that couldn’t be described in words; “YIAN” emerged as a way to heal. A deeply introspective and fully realized vessel of creative expression (Chua self-produced and engineered eight of the ten tracks), “YIAN” emerges as less an album than a worldview, a commitment to learning and uncovering one’s own selfhood honed over Chua’s lifelong reconciliation with her own personal history and identity.

On her debut album, the London-based cellist and composer explores her experiences as a child of the Chinese diaspora. Musically and conceptually, the record evokes hazy, in-between spaces.

At times, both comforting and uncomfortable YIAN the ten songs that emerged from Lucinda Chua's process are a compassionate exploration of selfhood that rewards patience and resists easy answers

Lucinda Chua sounded so accomplished on the EP collection Antidotes that it felt like an album, but Yian shows how much more she can do with a set of songs designed to complement each other.

Lucinda Chua's debut solo record aches with a specific form of longing, inviting us to listen more closely.

There’s a moment – a heart-stopping yet microscopic period of isolation – on Lucinda Chua’s song ‘Autumn Leaves Don’t Come’ when you become certain of her

YIAN by Lucinda Chua review: a debut album of space and hope from the London cellist and FKA Twigs collaborator

YIAN by Lucinda Chua album review by Sam Franzini. The multi-artist's full-length drops on march 24th via 4AD and streaming services

It’s exciting when an artist blooms seemingly out of nowhere. London-based cellist and composer Lucinda Chua basically did just that. Known mostly for her pair of intriguing and well-received Antidote EPs, Chua takes a pop-informed look at ambient music, shooting her celestial compositions through a lens of soothing soundscapes and aural flight. Arising from the