London-based singer-songwriter Lydia the Bard steps confidently into a new era with her debut album ‘The Woods’, a commanding 12-track release that transforms her signature cinematic folk sound into something far more urgent and defiant. Building on the success of her 2024 EP ‘Afraid of Quiet’ (over 8 million streams), Lydia expands her storytelling into widescreen, crafting a record that fuses folk-rock grit with lyrical mythmaking.
Co-written with longtime collaborator Ben Tomalin and produced by Peter Miles, The Woods captures the spirit of artists like The Crane Wives, Florence + The Machine, and The Decemberists, balancing vulnerability with intensity. Its title track, a searing protest anthem about greed and power, channels both righteous anger and cathartic release, beginning as a stripped acoustic piece before erupting into a storm of guitars and drums.
We had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Lydia and learn all about the record, the journey so far to get her to this point and so much, exclusively here at LOCK. And don’t forget to stream ‘The Woods’ now!
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Hey Lydia, welcome back to LOCK! How are you doing?
I am so so good! It’s been a bit manic over here and I’ve been super super busy, but good busy! Looking forward to some cozy autumnal nights and considering making some soups from scratch in the coming weeks!
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Congratulations on your debut album! How are you feeling about ‘The Woods’?
Thank you so much!! I am feeling so many feelings haha. It’s been a whirlwind of a week! Over the moon and relieved that the album is out, kinda sad that it isn’t just my little secret project anymore, hopeful that people love it, anxious that people won’t. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a week!
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How does this first full-length project differ from your previous EPs?
Well scale is probably the first big difference! With my previous EP ‘Afraid of Quiet’ we only released 3 songs, this time we’ve released 12! So that’s quite a leap! I also feel like the biggest difference is in how the projects were created, the EP was created almost exclusively remotely with my collaborators, this time round we all got in the same room with all these songs and were really able to spend some time creating together. I have some lovely lovely memories of creating together with my friends on this album which I didn’t get so much with the EP.
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How did your collaboration with Ben Tomalin shape the album, and what was the writing process like together?
Ben Tomalin is a musical visionary and a brilliant songwriter. He was heavily involved in the creation of this album from the very beginning and crafted the musical direction of the full project with me. The writing process was so easy and natural, me and Ben have been writing together for a while and he is really really great at tapping into the specific vision I have for a song and helping bring it into fruition through his incredible compositions. That and he’s one of my best friends which helps!
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The album spans 12 tracks, was there a specific narrative or emotional journey you wanted listeners to experience?
For sure! We settled on the title ‘The Woods’ early on in the process and I knew I wanted the album to feel like an anthology of various struggles or challenges I faced growing up. The way I like to explain the narrative journey is you need to imagine yourself at the ‘treeline’ (the opening track) of a dense woodland. Within the woods you can get lost, find hidden treasure, find predators, find handsome princes, find cursed oaks and fairytale creatures. The Woods really represents my life from ages 16-25 and once I entered that ‘woodland’ I eventually got out the other side but was unrecognisable from the girl that entered.
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Title track ‘The Woods’, tackles heavy themes about human rights and dystopia. How do you balance social commentary with musicality in your songwriting?
For me I think the two work hand in hand really well. I would never want one to overshadow the other, they have to work equally in tandem to convey the message of the song. When I’m writing a song I’ll have a very specific concept that I want to convey, so in this instance it was about capitalist greed, that then meant that the music and melody line needed to convey a specific confidence and dark growing rage throughout the song to match the story I was trying to tell. Every aspect of the song works to tell a specific story so they need to work together in almost equal balance for the song to do what it is I’m aiming for it to do.
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Beyond musical influences, are there personal experiences or world events that shaped ‘The Woods’?
Oh for sure! I’ve been watching American politics and the involvement of tech CEOs and billionaires in influencing voters choices for the last few years. I like to keep a tabs on people like Elon Musk to check what new nonsense he’s spouting about things he knows nothing about. But the sad thing is he will be influencing people because of the power he wields. This song is a cautionary tale on the dangers posed by those kinds of people, and also an encouraging thought to those that think the same as me, it wont last!
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You’ve built a massive following from YouTube covers to original music. How has your approach to connecting with fans evolved over the years?
I think my approach to connecting with fans has stayed pretty much the same! I want my fans to feel like a part of this project (because they are), without them I wouldn’t be where I am today! I might be the head and face of this project but I regard everyone that supports me as a part of the team. I’m hoping to move into a live space soon though! In that way I am evolving.
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And finally, if you could convey one central message to your audience through ‘The Woods’, what would it be?
Hope that Human beings won’t allow injustice to stand and that a reckoning will be delivered to those that look to harm and exploit others.
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Watch the official animated video for ‘The Woods’
Stream it now: