Artist: Lucy Kitchen

Venue: The Brunswick

Town: Hove

Date: 6.3.26

Just a short Seagull flight from Brighton is the slightly more chilled Town of Hove, where a new venue to me, though long existing, was the destination for an artist to explore and listen to live. This was Lucy kitchen, a British folk singer-songwriter based in Romsey, Hampshire, whose music blends traditional English folk with Americana, country, and 1970s-inspired songwriting. She is Known for her "summer breeze" voice and could be compared to artists such as Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell, and Beth Orton.

The Brunswick was as Lucy mentioned the first venue she has played in Brighton, so a nice place to begin with. She was down the rickety steps to the "Cellar Bar" which had a perfect ambience for her music. They had spent time and effort on this 60 person capacity space to improve the "Live" acoustics which to my ears produced a well balanced place to listen to music.

Lucy Kitchen was on a short sojourn around the country to promote In the Low Light, her most recent album, released only in February. It is a deeply personal project exploring grief, loss, and healing following the death of her husband, Stephen, to cancer in 2022.

Until arriving in the cellar I wasn't sure whether to expect Lucy playing solo or with her Live band, I have to say I was filled with positivity to see she had Double Bass, Drums and Pedal Steel Guitar in attendance. They reproduced the music from In the Low Light with feeling and such craft it made the room feel like a studio performance of Lucy Kitchen's songs.

The songs from this album must still be hard for Lucy Kitchen to sing as they contain such deep meaning and significance. That said this didn't feel like a wake as many of the songs do feel mentally enhancing for the listener. "Olivia", "Sunny Days" and "Red Skies" sounding sumptuous but it was hard to single out any of the songs above the rest on the night.

Review and Photographs by Dan Reddick for Return To Sound