Lyves of the Ripe & Fragrant

Francesca Bergami is a singer-songwriter born in Aylesbury, UK to an Australian mother & Italian father. Her first exposure to music began at around four years old when she began listening to her parents record collection. Her first musical memory is Dire Straits. There was also plenty of Michael Jackson, Sade, & Sinead O’Connor.

She now records under the name of  Lyves. Her emotive lyrical themes & alternative musical  path has earned her critical acclaim. 

 

Francesca started writing songs at the age of eleven. Her early teens were mostly filled with the likes of Tupac, Seal, & Sade, but as she matured, her taste moved towards the electronic end of the spectrum: Moby, Air, Boards of Canada, & Enya being some of her go-tos. 

Francesca sez: "My mother used to play Enya a lot. I thought it was corny as a teenager, but I think it really influenced the way I produce.  I love Enya's music now."

Francesca believed a career in music was just a childish dream, so she went to Goldsmith's to study psychology before embarking on a career as a support worker for young people in care. She later became a mental health advocate where she worked at a psychiatric hospitals. But Francesca felt that there was something missing in her life. Her musical musings needed to become a full-blown creative endeavour. So she got her hands on a keyboard & taught herself to play. She then advertised for like-minded musicians on Gumtree & started to perform live..

Francesca, however, decided she needed a change from her life in London. She moved to Senigallia, a small town in Italy where her father & grandmother live. She took up residence in her father's attic where she both wrote & recorded her music, Her stepping back from the limelight allowed her to grow as a songwriter. Her ability to turn times of isolation into music that radiates hope, strength, & optimism gave her a depth she had been craving. Using only a keyboard, her computer, & a set of speakers to create her music, she completed her first EP.

She released her debut EP Like Water in January 2017. The first track, "Darkest Hour", represents this whole transformative period in Francesca's life, symbolic of resistance & persistence, of never backing down, & never giving up.

This, my first compilation for 2024, begins with the four songs from her first EP & then adds a variety of other tracks by this amazing artist that I have acquired.

 

Lyves - Well Lived, NØ Comp., 2024

Darkest Hour
No Love
The Weather
Free
Certain Things
Shelter
Holding Back
Visions
Cover Me
Dreams
Rest Your Head
Shame
Tell Me that You Feel it Too

Enjoy,
NØ