Kelsey Lu

Kelsey Lu builds off-kilter, atmospheric alternative compositions in London by fusing classical chamber elements, folk textures, and electronic production, then draping the elaborate instrumental layers with expressive, soul-inflected singing. The initial release, the minimalist EP Church, arrived in 2016; subsequent work broadened the sonic range through stacked electronics alongside strings, guitars, and overdubbed vocal parts, culminating in the 2019 studio album Blood. Session contributions during this period include work alongside Solange, Florence + the Machine, and Blood Orange.

Born Kelsey Elizabeth McJunkins in Charlotte, North Carolina, the classically trained cellist entered the North Carolina School of the Arts at age eighteen and later moved to New York City. By late 2016—the same year True Panther Sounds issued the Church EP—the musician had already supplied cello or vocals to tracks by Lady Gaga, Solange, and Blood Orange. Captured with only cello and loop pedal inside a Greenpoint, Brooklyn church, that EP was produced by Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift. Cello performances on Father John Misty and Kelela albums followed in 2017. The following year brought a denser, more intricate approach on Columbia Records singles “Shades of Blue” and “Due West,” plus a Sampha-assisted rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “River.” Lu had also settled in Los Angeles by then and guested on 2018 albums by Florence + the Machine, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Blood Orange once more. A dreamlike interpretation of 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love” opened the debut LP Blood in early 2019; a companion remix collection, Blood Transfusion, surfaced months afterward.

Entering the new decade, Lu joined Yves Tumor on “let all the poisons that lurk in the mud seep out,” contributed to Onyx Collective’s “Where or When,” and worked with Boys Noize on “Ride or Die.”