Q: What isn’t illegal but feels like it should be?
Lucid Letters would answer that question with “making 90’s inspired hip hop as a middle aged white woman from the north of England,” and this is exactly what she is doing with her new single, Briefcase.
Lucid Letters is a singer, songwriter, and producer from the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, UK. She has been writing original music for more than two decades, and began teaching herself to record her own songs as a teen in the attic of her family home, using her brother’s desktop computer and a broken headset microphone.
Her influences include Björk, Imogen Heap, and Utada Hikaru, as well as a slew of independent artists who have a hand in both the songwriting and the production of their music. These days Lucid works from the Tiny Studio, a simple setup in her Fleetwood home where she cooks up many of her ideas.
Briefcase is the first single from the new album, CHAOS ERA, Lucid’s first full-length album since her debut DIY offering in 2005.
CHAOS ERA is a concept album consisting of Lucid’s early self-produced sketches, transformed into fully fleshed out songs, and charting a story of self discovery and self destruction in equal measure.
“I think I may have to become a different version of myself in the process…”
– Lucid Letters on completing her first concept album
Briefcase is a track that occurs towards the end of this narrative. At this juncture we meet the character of Lucid Letters, a kind of meta-self played by Lucid herself, as she begins to allow her own pure creative expression, casting off the burden of other people’s opinions. There is also a self consciousness on display in the lyrics, pre-empting those very opinions she is trying to quiet in her own mind.
In Briefcase, Lucid (the artist, not the character) acknowledges the apparent absurdity of choosing to perform rap lyrics as a person with no heritage in hip hop, and arguably, zero swag.
“My only connection is that I just really like it,” says Lucid about writing and performing rap, “You can say so much in a short period of time compared to conventional singing. I realise I can only make this kind of music because of the communities and cultures who developed it, groups I wasn’t raised in. This song is a sharp head jerk in the direction of these facts. Maybe it’s a little sheepish too, in between bursts of confidence.”
Released 5th September, 2025 to Bandcamp and other music services, Briefcase sets the tone for a story of grand proportions, told by an imperfect narrator.
“I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do it. I think I may have to become a different version of myself in the process, one who can finish the album, tell the story that goes with it, and do justice to both.”
You can learn more about Briefcase on the official landing page at
lucidletters.uk/briefcase
A PDF version of this press release is available for download here: Lucid Letters Presents Briefcase, the First Single From Concept Album CHAOS ERA (PDF)
