Ah, Lucidity are Lucy Mabbott and David Qadir, singer-songwriters from Hong Kong and Dublin, respectively, now based in London. Their self-produced debut album, Lives of Others, is a fusion of contemporary folk and alternative rock, reminiscent of artists such as Laura Marling, Eddie Vedder, Emma Ruth Rundle and Tori Amos.

In their past lives, both Lucy and Dave were involved in a variety of projects that consistently failed to launch. Somewhat disillusioned with these numerous false starts, both turned to writing and recording their own solo material. But something was missing and, once again, both eventually began to seek out other musicians to write and perform with.

After he responded to her classified ad seeking collaborators, Lucy met Dave in a pub in Kennington, South London, in March 2013. That first conversation covered topics ranging from cats to Freudian psychology and threw up a number of coincidences, not least, an apparent shared enthusiasm for rare Canadian guitars. A partnership was agreed and they set about working through their respective back catalogues to find tracks they could collaborate on, while also co-writing new material.

Over the following months and years, demos were written and recorded, open mic nights attended and innumerable alcoholic beverages consumed. Along the way, a number of different names were tried on, but nothing stuck. Finally, ‘Ah, Lucidity’, an anagram of ‘Lucy’ and ‘Dáithí’, was agreed upon.

The fruits of all that labour, Lives of Others, is essentially a collection of stories about people and their relationships with one another. All songs were originally written and performed acoustically and most have remained so in their final album versions. Some have been embellished, albeit sparingly, with a few choice additional elements.