Born and raised in Beckenham, South East London, Lucy Gray is an acoustic singer-songwriter whose music draws on indie, country and contemporary Christian influences. A self-described "beachbum in the city", Lucy has always felt caught somewhere between two worlds. Her life and work are rooted in London, where she gigs and busks across the city, but some of her strongest ties are to Devon and Cornwall, where her parents are from and where she spent much of her childhood. In particular, Polzeath in North Cornwall has remained a constant throughout her life.

Music was something Lucy had wanted to pursue for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until her thirties that she finally decided to go for it. After a difficult period in her life, she began busking, initially without telling anyone she knew. It became a way to build her confidence as a performer and gradually created a community around her music, eventually leading to regular gigs, venue bookings and the decision to finally release music of her own. Her attitude now is simple, "Do it for when you're 80." As she puts it, "I'd kick myself if I got old and didn't do what I always wanted to do."

Her debut EP, By The Water, is a reflection of Lucy's coastal side, drawing heavily on Cornwall, coastal wilderness, solo road trips and her own experiences of heartbreak, mental health, ADHD and faith. Connecting its four tracks is a wider idea of finding peace with where you are in life. It is about recognising that you are not behind or ahead, that your route does not have to look like anybody else's, and that there can be contentment in being alone as much as there can be in sharing life with someone else. It is a message Lucy admits she is preaching to herself just as much as anyone listening.

"Golden Days" began as a poem written during a rare moment when Lucy, who has struggled with her mental health in the past, simply felt ok. What started as an acknowledgement of that fleeting feeling grew into an upbeat, beachy song that Lucy imagines playing in the background as friends and family gather together at sundown. The track is a reminder to appreciate the simple moments when life feels good and allow yourself to be present in them.

"Good To Go" captures the independence and freedom of travelling alone. Written with solo wanderers in mind, it reflects being open to love and companionship but equally content to keep adventuring independently until the right person comes along, if they ever do.

"Different Road" grew from Lucy's experience of feeling out of step with those around her and, following her ADHD diagnosis, beginning to understand why her life had taken a different shape. At its centre is the realisation that taking another route does not mean you are lost, you can simply be on a different road to everyone else and still be heading in the right direction.

Closing the EP is its title track, "By The Water", inspired by a bench in Cornwall that Lucy has returned to several times a year since childhood and which appears on the EP artwork. It is the place where she feels everything slow down, the world goes quiet and she feels closest to God. Written in a single afternoon, the song turns Lucy's favourite place in the world into the emotional and spiritual centre of the record.

By The Water was brought to life with the help of producer and musician Aylwin Steele at The Tape Shed, while "Golden Days" and "Good To Go" were co-written with Jon Kensington at his home studio. Alongside her original music, she has built a busy career as a live performer, including residencies at The Ivy Café Wimbledon and a local private members' club, and repeat bookings at venues across London, Maidstone and Brighton. She regularly busks on London's South Bank beneath the London Eye and at stations including Waterloo, London Bridge and Charing Cross through the Mayor of London's Busk in London scheme, as well as volunteering her music at her local Living Well Foodbank when she can.

For Lucy, By The Water is ultimately about accepting the road that brought you here and finding contentment in where you are now. It gives a voice to the coastal side of an artist who still has a foot firmly planted in both of her worlds, somewhere between city and sea.

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