LUCY Rose's fans love her sad songs - now she's hoping more positive material gets the thumbs-up too.

 

The singer is playing the Art School tomorrow night, road-testing the tunes that'll make up her second album Work It Out, due for release in July.

And while the songstress made her name with sensitive, acoustic songs, she believes her next album will shake things up.

"On Like I Used To, it was songs written on acoustic guitar, with an arrangement put around it afterwards," she explains, referring to her 2012 debut.

"This time around a lot of the songs started with beats, and a lot of it was written while I was on tour. So I was using different apps on my iPad, and starting songs completely differently. It's more electronic than organic and I play the piano for the first time on it too, but it's still me."

The 25-year-old's journey towards making her new album wasn't totally smooth - she ended up ditching a lot of planned songs for the record and delaying its release until she was totally happy.

In the meantime, she was working with her regular collaborators Bombay Bicycle Club, who have continued to go from strength to strength. Lucy has provided additional vocals for the indie-pop group's last two records, as well as joining them regularly on tour, and it's had an effect on her own music, too.

"I think on the second album you'll hear some of how Bombay Bicycle Club have inspired me," she says.

"Playing shows and just seeing what the crowds were like made me think I wanted an element of that in my shows. My first album was so acoustic and downbeat, but I want to rock out and have a good time at points."

There are glimpses of that on her new single, Our Eyes, a tune that places electronics at the forefront. Yet when she asked fans on Twitter for what older songs she should be playing on tour, she was surprised to find demand for the more miserable parts of her back catalogue.

"I got loads of requests for quiet, depressing songs that people said were their favourites," she chuckles.

"I thought that if I play all of them it's going to be one depressing show... Something like Night Bus was one of the most popular, and that's another quiet one. It was a relief in some ways, because I always worry that people will be having a good time at the show and then I'll crack out something really quiet and people won't want that."

Ofcourse, things aren't always straightforward with Lucy. When she answers the phone she's just looking over the video for Our Eyes, and it'll have to go some to top one of her previous videos, Bikes, which featured her teaming up with a few Hell's Angels.

"That was great," she recalls.

"We maybe told a white lie to the production company beforehand, saying that I actually knew how to ride a motorbike before getting over there, but the actual bikers were so nice - one of them taught how to ride it in the parking lot of this small motel. It was very sweet."

While Lucy's music is going great guns just now, she's also an optimist about what else she could do with her life.

"I guess I'm a romantic, in that I think I could do anything with my life, and if I wanted I could get a sailing boat and go around the world, or go to Barbados and make necklaces on a beach while not worrying about money," she says.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but I am settled and happy, and I guess I don't want to write off what else to do with life yet. We'll see what happens."

Lucy Rose, the Art School, tomorrow, £14, 7pm