The timing of my conversation with Joseph Chester feels both eerie and apt – coinciding with St Lucia’s Day, December 13, which also happens to fall the day after the 40th anniversary of Lucia Joyce's death.

The talented but tragic daughter of James Joyce and Nora Barnacle, who serves as the central inspiration behind the Irish musician’s new album, Lucia, had almost been written out of history, due to the deliberate efforts of family members. But now, as Joe points out, “in the last 12 months, all of a sudden, she seems to be everywhere” – with her life being celebrated through dance, documentary, theatre and more.

“I think it’s wonderful,” he says of the upsurge in interest in Lucia. “When I started writing this piece, there was very little out there about Lucia. Maybe it’s because our attitudes towards mental illness are changing, but she seems to be having her moment now.”

Born in 1907 in Trieste, Lucia trained as a dancer, and embarked on a career that saw her featured in Jean Renoir’s silent film adaption of The Little Match Girl. She even earned praise in The Paris Times following a performance in the late '20s.

However, not long after, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and she went on to spend the majority of her life in institutions.

Joe, who’s been based in France for the past six years, was initially inspired to explore Lucia’s story after listening to Deirdre Mulrooney’s radio documentary, Dancing with Lucia.

“I listened to that documentary five or six times,” he tells me. “It’s so rich as a story – and the story is so tragic. Lucia was only 25 when she was committed, and she was 77 when she died.

“I’d been reading Joyce since I was a teenager, and I really loved Joyce,” he continues. “But I’d never really heard anything about Lucia, his daughter. I subsequently found out that there was a concerted effort to hide Lucia’s story from the public, by Stephen Joyce, Joyce’s grandson.”

Stephen, who was the son of Lucia’s brother Giorgio, became the controversial executor of James Joyce’s literary estate, before his death in January 2020. In the ‘80s, he destroyed most of Lucia's writings and papers, including correspondence between her and Samuel Beckett, who she had supposedly been romantically involved with.

“That seemed to me to be a vicious act of vandalism,” Joe remarks. “I found it inexcusable that after Lucia had been hidden away in life, Stephen Joyce tried to silence her in death.

“That’s when I decided that I had to try and tell her story,” he adds. “It was this attempt to erase her. I just felt like, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could try and take the pieces of her life that are known about, and try to put them together – and maybe try to let her breathe again?’ Or at least put some kind of a portrait together of her. Not to rectify – because of course you can’t – but to go some way towards acknowledging this amazing person.”

Although Joe has released numerous albums as a singer-songwriter, Lucia is his first major composition for classical guitar and strings.

“A lot of what has been written about her is speculation, and scurrilous, baseless rumours,” he states. “So I felt the best approach for me was not to be in any way prescriptive, or to use my voice at all, but to stick to verifiable facts – things that we know happened in her life – and try to allow her to speak through the music. Of course, I could have written an album of songs about Lucia – but I felt if I was to do that, I would automatically be imposing my narrative on her story.”

As someone who had read James Joyce's work for decades, Joe admits that his research had an impact on his view of the Irish writer.

“I was talking to a friend while I was writing it, and I said: ‘The more I find out about this, the less I like James Joyce,’” he reveals. “Of course, we have to separate the artist from the art, and it doesn't change the way I feel about his work. One of my guiding principles was that I wanted to do this work with no judgement. Sometimes it’s very hard to reserve judgement – but it’s also very easy to point the finger at the past from the sanctimonious point of view of the present.

“It's also important not to simplify things,” he continues. “I like James Joyce less now, in a way – but I also remember that, in Lucia’s life, he was her only champion. He was the only one who advocated for her, and who fought for her. It was only when he died that she became really abandoned. Things are complicated.”

Given the tragedy of the life that inspired the album, Joe notes that working on the project could take an emotional toll.

“It was sometimes quite heavy,” he reflects. “I empathise very strongly with Lucia, and what happened to her. I spent two years walking in her shoes, in a way. It was certainly a worthwhile, rewarding experience – but I definitely felt very sad at times.

“I’ve had my own struggles,” he continues. “I think a lot of people have. I’ve definitely had some bad times, and some severe depression. I’ve been on medication, and thankfully, I’ve got through all of that. If you’ve been through something like that, and if you have suffered from mental illness – obviously that’s such a small fraction of what Lucia went through – but I wonder if it opens your heart to other people who have had mental illness issues. I think it does. Or at least, I think it sharpens your sensibilities. You tend to become more aware, and maybe have slightly more empathy for other people who have suffered similar things.”

After extensive research and work on the album, Joe got the chance to share Lucia with the world in a special premiere at axis Ballymun on Bloomsday 2022.

“It was an incredible evening, and there was just an amazing response from the audience,” he recalls. “Lucia’s story just seems to provoke a response from people. I stood in the foyer afterwards, for about two hours, talking to people. They were just so open, about talking about their experiences with mental illness, and their families. It was a privilege.”

Lucia, as well as his 2021 EP, Carolan/Cage, mark a bold new direction in Joe's work, as he steps confidently into the world of classical music. But what sparked that shift at this stage in his career, after six acclaimed studio albums?

“My last album had some instrumentals on it, so it was something that I was starting to become more interested in,” he says. “From a songwriting point of view, I felt like I’d sort of reached a finish line with the last album, in terms of the style of songs that I began writing about 10 years ago, with She Darks Me.

“I feel that the best songs I’ve ever written are on that last album [2020's Jupiter's Wife], like ‘Staying Together for The Children’ and ‘Hilton and Michael’,” he adds. “Songs that take years to write. I just wasn’t very enthusiastic about doing another record like that. I found that there was kind of diminishing returns for me, as well. I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve really done what I can in this medium, and I need to change.’”

Despite the change in direction in his solo work, he continues to be involved in numerous projects across multiple genres as a producer for artists on these shores and beyond. He’s also a member of A Lazarus Soul, and, as a musician, has worked with the likes of The Waterboys, Gemma Hayes, Sinéad O’Connor and more.

Looking at the state of homegrown alternative music now, however, Joe worries about “stagnation” creeping in.

“That’s probably part of what motivated me to move into different areas,” he reveals. “This is not a statement about anyone else's music, at all – but personally speaking, I don’t hear much new music in rock and alternative music at the moment. A lot of what I hear are pastiches and Instagram versions of music that I’ve known for decades. Whereas, in contemporary classical music, I’m hearing music that I've never heard anything like before. It seems to be a genre where there’s huge invention happening all the time. To me, alternative music is going through a bit of a phase – well, hopefully it’s a phase! – of stagnation.”

Is there anyone who gives him hope at the moment?

“Obviously I’m biased, but Brian Brannigan [of A Lazarus Soul] obviously,” he smiles. “I’ve heard Brian’s new songs, and I think they’re masterpieces. He’s someone who seems to be able to routinely write masterpieces. So, that gives me hope!

“I’ve started making a new A Lazarus Soul record with Brian and the guys,” he adds. “That's a totally different kind of music [than Lucia], but that's brilliant for me.”

He’s also started composing his next solo piece, which, once again, is “worlds apart” from previous releases.

“I would hope that will be out in the next 12 months,” he says. “But, we’ll see. Who knows – this is all new to me, and I’m still figuring out how to do it!”

Lucia is out now. Joseph Chester returns to axis Ballymun on April 27 to perform the full Lucia suite with The Sound of Bells. Tickets are available here.