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“Everything seems possible, anything is possible,” sings Lydia Luce on “Wisteria,” the eighth track off her new album, Mammoth. And it’s these twin spirits of hope and acceptance, along with a fervent belief in the serendipity of her last few years, that swim through the entire record. “These songs reflect where I am in my life right now,” explains Luce. “They’re about the peace I’ve finally found at home, in my body, and in my relationships.”

That this peace has been hard won only makes Mammoth feel even more significant. Of the various challenges Luce has overcome, chronic pain has perhaps been the biggest. In 2023, she was diagnosed with a herniated cervical disc, bilateral carpal tunnel, tennis elbow and an inflamed bone. At one point the pain was so bad she could barely hold her instruments, let alone play them. The medical advice? Stop playing and get help. But music is her life, quite literally, as an artist and session violinist, and she continued until the pain was so bad she finally had no choice. Surgery, plus a newfound understanding of her body, has left her in a much, much better place. “I had never asked for so much help. I couldn’t open or carry anything. But now I’m happy to say I’m stable, strong and playing my instruments again.”

Luce reflects on this journey to recovery in the album’s eponymous track, recalling a hike she took up Mount Ritter in Mammoth, CA in 2014. Back then living in LA she was at a very different stage of her life. Drinking and getting high, the days could be a blur; the evenings too. Indeed, she arrived at the trailhead straight from an all-nighter. Accompanied by a friend, an experienced climber, he helped her through one of the most intense hikes she’s ever done, and one of the most beautiful. When it came to writing about it, the metaphors flowed easily. “Recovery feels a lot like climbing a mountain,” she says. “You can see the peak but there are so many switchbacks along the way.” How did she get through it? “By putting one foot in front of the other.” The track’s rubberneck guitar takes us step by step up the climb, before breaking into a gorgeous sweeping melody, redolent of the shimmering landscape below.

Along with all this personal progress comes the desire to never go back. In “Ephemeral,” Luce sings about honoring herself and trusting her body: “I will never look away/When your eyes are searching/For promises that I have made.” A love song as she describes it, to herself. It’s about making sure she gets the help she needs and is no longer too stubborn or afraid to ask for it. A book (The Way Out by Alan Gordon) has helped her find and fuse this trust between mind and body. The song is an important and sober declaration of self-love, for which Luke Sital Singh also lends his vocals.

Love finds its way into other parts of the record too, most notably when Luce sings about her relationship with her husband. They’ve come a long way, she admits, from their early days of codependency and substance abuse. But after a lot of work and a willingness to be truly vulnerable and honest, they are in a safe and loving place. “Wisteria" is a testament to this, as well as a celebration of where they are now. “I hear you singing softly from somewhere in the house/ A light is pouring in it touches every inch around,” sings Luce in her heady, dreamy way, as the track gently wraps around her, suggesting that she’s not yet fully awake, but no longer dreaming either. There is also a recognition that this tranquility is fragile. The relentlessness of the world, its pull to be always on and ready and available can be overwhelming. On the seventh track, “Quiet," she reveals the antidote: “What if we stayed quiet/And we wrap ourselves in silence/We don’t have to fill the space between.” Camping is how Luce and her husband escape and in the soft-pedaled keys and mellow strings, we could almost be tiptoeing through the woods alongside them.

Mammoth is Luce’s third full-length release and follows on from Dark River (2021) and Florida Girl (2023). Her songwriting has previously been likened to Dusty Springfield and Neko Case (AV Club), whilst her sound has been called “achingly intimate and breathtakingly beautiful” (Atwood Magazine) as well as having the “rigor and intentionality of contemporary classical [along with] an unapologetic expression of middle-American emotion” (Forbes). Both records showcase the development of Luce’s sound, and for her latest album she has metamorphosed once again.

Produced with longtime creative collaborator Jordan Lehning, with whom Luce runs the Nashville-based string collective Lockeland Strings, Mammoth was different from the start. This time, it was less about writing specific melodies or parts, and more about searching for the right sonic textures. Which meant building up layers of instrumentation alongside recordings of the natural world, including the blowing wind and morning birdsong, to create an altogether more elemental sensation. It’s also why so much of the record’s identity comes from ambient music compositions – something Luce has been working on individually through her Lethe music project. “For some time, I’ve been really enjoying the unassuming nature of ambient music,” she explains, “and I wanted to bring this to the record to create a more relaxing, more restorative experience.” Gone are the boisterous elements of previous releases, replaced by something more quietly contemplative.

This new intentionality was present in how the album was recorded too. On previous projects, Luce has spent months in and out of the studio. But apart from some additional overdubs, Mammoth was made in one crazy, giddy, unforgettable week in the UK, when Luce and Lehning holed up at Real World Studios, Peter Gabriel’s celebrated recording institution just outside Bath. Their favorite musicians joined them, alongside Luce’s husband and Lehning’s wife and children too. It was intense, intimate and, ultimately, incredible. For Lehning, it was a dream fully realized, as he’d been wanting to record at Real World ever since he’d taken a virtual CD-ROM tour of the studio on his dad’s Mac, back in 1995. “It could not have been more special,” he says. “I always say Lydia is as crazy as I am and I’m just beyond grateful for the trust she gave me in helping lead these beautiful pieces to the finish line.” Luce agrees, adding that, “these songs basically exist as a time capsule, honoring the energy and the beauty of our creative family for that week.”

It is fitting then, that family is the theme of the first single, “Florence.” For over a year, Luce and her husband have been trying to get pregnant. It has not been straightforward and she has had to grapple with this lack of control, even starting to research IVF treatment. During this time, she felt such a strong connection to her future child, she wrote “Florence" to be their very own lullaby. Breathy and beautiful, it might also contain a little manifesting magic, because a few week’s before the track’s release date, Luce discovered she was pregnant. After the initial shock and excitement and overwhelm, there was time to reflect on the changes her body is now able to endure in the coming months. Soon, she will simply be a mom, gently cradling her baby in her arms. A miracle, that not all that long ago, felt like an impossibly high mountain to climb.