Sonechko
Square Wild’s Lucy Shevchuk taps into her inner darkness and mental health with ghostly solo venture.
With her main band, Square Wild, Lucy Shevchuk has left an indelible mark on the prog scene in recent years. Voted best unsigned band in 2022, with Shevchuk also ranked among the top 10 female vocalists that same year, their upbeat genre-melding has been a breath of fresh air. But with Sonechko, her gothic and chillingly atmospheric solo project, the vocalist wanted to explore her darker side.
“These songs just came to me,” she says of her three-track EP, 'Split'. “They’re very dark, emotional, and straight down the line. Square Wild songs tackle current affairs, but the messages are hidden behind fun, experimental songwriting. This strips that back.”
Shevchuk was born in Manchester – her charmingly thick Northern accent gives that away – but she is of Ukrainian heritage. Sonechko, which means ‘little sun’, is a nod to that, and her grandfather in particular.
“He passed away 14 years ago, and we were really close,” she reveals. “I always regretted not learning about my heritage, and I can't speak the language. When I was searching for Ukrainian phrases, I came across sonechko, and my grandpa always called me his little Ukrainian girl, so it felt right.”
Beyond the family ties – which are compounded by her dad, Thomas’ violin playing on the stirring 'You Killed Eve' – there’s a real necessity for this music to escape Shevchuk’s brain, and for her to step briefly away from the radiant silliness of Square Wild.
“This project is me deep diving into the negative and positive sides of how my brain works; late diagnoses of ADHD, my processing of all those emotions, the difficulties, and acceptance” she details. 'Split' explores the light and dark of who I am, struggling to switch between really good moods and horrific lows. I knew there was a darker part of me that needed to speak.”
Her songs are simple, ethereal, and littered with shadowy slices of ear candy, making 'Split' an otherworldly experience with headphones on. She has producer Tom Le Cocq to thank.
“The more he's mixed, the more it's influenced the later tracks on the album and what I’ve been doing with my voice and guitar,” she says, with the promise of a full album by the end of 2025. “He just got the vibe. He was really experimental with effects and synth lines, putting his touch on the songs and creating walls of sound.
“For 'Wake Up', I tried to imitate trolley wheels squeaking on hospital floors, playing with my delay pedal to make it sound super metallic. I wanted those nuances to help tell the story.”
Shevchuk may not have started writing with a clear goal in mind, other than letting her less boisterous side breathe, but the sinews of her musical DNA have come naturally to the fore.
“I hear a sad version of Kate Bush, Aurora for her dark vocal approach, and Chelsea Wolfe for her heavy, grungy, effected sound; it’s really has taken a hold of me,” she says. “But there’s a lot of me in there too.”
- Phil Weller
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Lucy Shevchuk (guitar, vocals, bass, piano, mandolin, FX), Tom Le Cocq (production), Thomas Shevchuk (violin)
SOUNDS LIKE: A melancholic Kate Bush meets the towering gothic darkness of Chelsea Wolfe, with folky turns, ethereal atmospheres and a heart-on-the-sleeve lyricism
CURRENT RELEASE: //Split// releases August 1 and is self-released.
WEBSITE: https://sonechko.bandcamp.com/album/split