Lucius (2025)

One Liner: Harmonies for dayyyyyys, over the top of good indie pop
Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, country pop
Home: Brooklyn, but relocated to L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends.

Beatbox Stage at 3:30.

Thoughts:  Last here all the way back in 2014, which is sort of surprising to me.  I figured they had been more recently than that.  I wrote about them in 2014, but need to update that significantly!

A woman-fronted, retro-pop-indie sound that sounds very familiar to me right now.  Not sure if they helped start that movement or just became part of it, but it feels like a strong genre world right now.  Back in 2014, Wikipedia collected some significant praise for the band:

• Lauded by the New York Times for their "luscious, luminous, lilting lullabies",
• praised by NPR for their "charisma and charm" 
• praised by Rolling Stone as "the best band you may not have heard yet"
• Paste called them one of the best live acts of 2015
• The Guardian described them as "the missing link between Arcade Fire and Haim ... How can they fail?  They won't."

Two members - Jess Wolfe and Holly Lessig - do the vocals and rad harmonies.  They met in 2005 at Berklee College of Music and began performing together.  A few years later, they moved into an old Victorian mansion in Brooklyn, complete with a recording studio inside, and formed Lucius with some dudes.  Their original album, Songs from the Bromley House, was pressed once and is not available on Spotify.

Their first album that you can find is 2014's Wildewoman.  For some reason, there are two re-releases from 2024 on Spotify, just called The New Recording.  Maybe they didn't like the sound of the originals, but I think it is a very good debut.  Piles of pretty harmony laid down over some well-done but pretty basic drums/guitar.  Back in 2014, the biggest track was "Turn it Around," but for some reason, "Two of Us on the Run" has obliterated that one and become their top overall streamer.  64.8 million streams.

I wonder if this is some sort of TikTok theme song.  It has a lovely, light, airy touch at the star, and then it evolves into a bigger animal.  And don't take anything away from "Turn it Around," that is a great tune as well.  Way more upbeat.

Their second album was 2016's Good Grief.  They keep the same formula - If you are a fan of remarkably strong female voices and sweet harmonies with rock and roll/electro-pop/soul backup, then you should be all over this.  Fun music, excellent singing, good times.  The most-listened to track when I originally looked at this was called "Born Again Teen," but now it is "Dusty Trails" with 15.3 million streams.

Yeah, again, that is all the perfect harmony that you could want.  Freaking beautiful.  If I am being honest, the deluxe version of this disc is just a little too damn much.  But if you cut this down to the original 11 songs, it is a much more concise and enjoyable album.  Apparently that song was used on a Cameron Crowe show called Roadies.  Guitarist Andy Burri bounced on the band around here.

Apparently, in 2014 there was a new radio station in Austin called The Fringe.  I don't recall this at all, but I said back then that "I have heard Turn it Around 3 different times out in the world - twice on the new radio station called The Fringe, then once yesterday in Which Wich.  The song is absolutely growing on me the more I hear it."  How odd.

They released a great disc right here that was partly acoustic versions of their prior songs - Nudes - in 2018.  Also includes a tune with Roger Waters, of all people.  Kind of random, and also kind of sounds terrible.  Their cover of "Right Down the Line" is greatness.  A friend of mine loves that song, and just about anytime we are hanging out and he has had enough drinks, he'll fire up the Gerry Rafferty.  The Tame Impala cover is good too.

A thing I should note about them - they are collaborators with errrrbody.  I think when you can contribute ridiculous harmonies to a song, you become sought-after.  They've done tunes with Dawes, Tweedy, John Legend, Roger Waters (but like, on his album, not just the one above on theirs), Lukas Nelson, Kurt Vile, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Sheryl Crow, Harry Styles, Ozzy Osbourne (!!), Cold War Kids, The Killers, Ringo Starr, Portugal. The Man, and many others.  Kind of wild.

Next is 2022's Second Nature, which has a little more disco glitter than the previous tunes.  They have one with both Brandi Carlile and Sheryl Crow, which is kind of funny, because with all of those voices all swirling around each other, it is hard to tell who is where at any given time in the mix.  The top tune from this one is "Next to Normal," with 7.5 million streams.

Fonky, baby.  I dig.  The final album made me grin only because the cover of it shows the bared teeth of a dog.  But for some reason it doesn't look like a mean dog, it looks like a good dog.  Eponymous disc, released in 2025.  Definitely strips back some of the electronics and groove of that last one.  "Mad Love" has an almost Indigo Girls feel.  "Gold Rush" actually sounds like Sheryl Crow from back in the day.  "Old Tape" sounds like a War on Drugs tune with them singing over the top.  Which is clever because the second-most streamed song on their Spotify is a War on Drugs song that they appear on.  They also have a Brandi Carlyle song, as their third most streamed tune - and I freaking love that song.  This is a good disc.  I am wondering about why this album is so chill though - nothing in Wikipedia or the few articles I reviewed explain the low-key vibe.

One last thing, although it is old, you must respect the Tiny Desk!

12 years ago, and they need to get those voices closer to the mic at times, but still the harmonies jam out.  The weird drum cowbell freakout was a little annoying, TBH.