Lucius (band)

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Lucius is a four-piece indie pop band that got its start in Brooklyn, New York. The band relocated to Los Angeles in 2015. The group currently consists of lead vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, drummer and producer Dan Molad, and lead guitarist Peter Lalish. Josh Dion (drums) and Casey Foubert (guitar) have been joining the band for live performances since Andrew Burri left the band in late 2016.

The band has two studio albums to date: Wildewoman (2013) and Good Grief (2016). Both received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR and Village Voice. Paste Magazine named them as one of the best live acts in 2015. The band has since scored Band Aid, the debut film of director Zoe Lister-Jones. Their track "Million Dollar Secret" premiered on the final season of the HBO Series Girls.

Wolfe and Laessig have also contributed vocals for various artists such as Roger Waters (formerly of Pink Floyd), Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, John Legend, Mavis Staples, John Prine, and folk-rock bands, Dawes and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. They are listed performers for The Rentals and San Fermin.

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History

Wolfe and Laessig both attended Berklee College of Music as students and moved to Ditmas Park, Brooklyn in 2007 to pursue a musical career. There, the two moved into an old Victorian mansion which had a 60-year-old recording studio and vintage pianos inside. They were musicians for hire.

Songs from the Bromley House

In 2009, Wolfe and Laessig self-released Songs from the Bromley House, a biographical ode to the house and the experiences that they had in their Brooklyn home. There, they lived with eight other musicians, two of whom later became their bandmates -- producer Dan Molad (also Jess Wolfe's husband) and guitarist Peter Lalish.

The band made a one-time pressing CD of the album and has not released the album since.

Lucius EP and Wildewoman

The quintet released a self-titled EP in February 2012. The EP was recorded throughout 2011.

Lucius received several placements in TV shows including Grey's Anatomy and the MTV show Catfish. The press also took notice and the band did a Tiny Desk performance in January 2013. The Silver Sound Music Video Film Festival + Band Battle awarded the "Go Home" video as "Best Animation." Their song "Until We Get There" was also featured in Season 2 Episode 24 of the TV show New Girl.

The band toured with the EP throughout the first half of 2013 while finishing the recording of Wildewoman. Band member Dan Molad produced Wildewoman.

Mom + Pop Music released Wildewoman in North America on October 15, 2013. It received favorable reviews from Rolling Stone and Consequence of Sound. The album was released worldwide on March 31, 2014 via Play It Again Sam. The Guardian described the album as "60s girl group-inspired songs doused in a tonic of baroque pop and saccharine folk." The record received positive reviews and was praised for its eclectic mix of musical styles that ranged from retro pop to reflective folk.

The song "Until We Get There" was featured in the motion picture If I Stay and was included in the 2014 soundtrack.

During their world tour between the fall of 2013 and the end of 2014, they also played their own shows and music festivals. Lucius opened for an eclectic mix of artists including Tegan and Sara, The Head the Heart, Sara Bareilles, Andrew Bird, City and Colour and Jack White.

The deluxe version of Wildewoman was released in October 2014. It features live recordings and covers, with one version of their song "How Loud Your Heart Gets" produced by Spoon's Jim Eno for Spotify. The band ended their world tour with a sold out show at Terminal 5 in New York on December 6, 2014.

Good Grief and Nudes (2016-Present)

The band's second album, Good Grief, was released on March 11, 2016. The album was co-produced and engineered by Grammy-winning engineer Shawn Everett. It was mixed by Tom Elmhirst. Songs were inspired by their two years on the road with Wildewoman and were written in late 2015 when the band relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Departing from their previous sound, the album focused on "moody Eighties-synth melodies and raw lyrics about the hardships of marriage."

The deluxe edition of Good Grief features the band's cover of the Kinks' song "Strangers" which gained attention from a crowd-sourced video of the band performing in Petaluma, California in August 2014.

The band has also performed tracks from the album on Ellen, Live on Stephen Colbert, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. "Born Again Teen" and "Dusty Trails" were also featured on the fifth episode on Cameron Crowe's show Roadies. In the final episode of the first season, Wolfe and Laessig performed the Lowell George's song "Willin" with Jackson Browne.

On November 25, 2016, the band released a two-song 10 inch vinyl record titled Pulling Teeth which contained two B sides "Pulling Teeth" and "The Punisher."

The band are set to release their first compilation album, titled Nudes in March 2018. The collection will include acoustic recordings of their hits so far as well as new songs and a duet with Roger Waters.

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Collaborations

Outside Lucius, Wolfe and Laessig have been involved in several albums as guest vocalists.

• "Sonsick", "Bar", "Crueler Kind", "Sonsick", "The Count", "Oh Darling" & "Daedalus (What We Have)" (San Fermin) - San Fermin (2013)
• "High As Hello", "Wait for Love", "Low Key", "Slow Love", "I'll Sing It", "Where My Love" & "I'll Never Know" (Tweedy) - Sukierae (2014)
• "It's Time to Come Home", "Traces of Our Tears", "Stardust", "1000 Season", "Damaris", "Irrational Things", "Thought of Sound", "Song of Remembering", "Seven Years" & "The Future" (The Rentals) - Lost In Alphaville (2014)
• New Haven (Chadwick Stokes and Lucius) - The Horse Comanche (2015)
• "Picture of a Man" (Dawes) - We're All Gonna Die (2016)
• "Penthouse Floor", "Love Me Now", "What You Do To Me" & "Surefire" (John Legend) - Darkness and Light (2016)
• "Déja Vu", "The Last Refugee", "Picture That", "Is This the Life We Really Want?", "The Most Beautiful Girl", "Smell the Roses", "Wait for Her" & "Part of Me Died" (Roger Waters) - Is This the Life We Really Want?
• "I Remember Her" (Ingrid Michaelson) - Alter Egos EP (2017)

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Other

The band covered "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky" for the compilation album Bob Dylan In the 80s: Volume One and "Uncle John's Band" for The Grateful Dead 2016 compilation album Day of the Dead.

Lucius scored the soundtrack for Jake and Amir's web series, Lonely and Horny. It was released on vimeo on April 8, 2016.

In July 2015, Wolfe and Laessig performed with Pink Floyd co-founder, Roger Waters and My Morning Jacket at the Newport Folk Festival. In September and October 2016, the band performed with Waters and his band for three shows in Mexico City and the Desert Trip Festival in Indio, California. On Sunday May 21, 2017 Wolfe and Laessig performed on stage during Waters' final dress rehearsal held at Meadowlands Sports Complex, NJ. They sang backup vocals on Waters' Us + Them Tour throughout North America, which began in Kansas City on May 26,2017 and ended in Vancouver on October 29, 2017.

In January 2017, the band scored Zoe Lister-Jones' directorial debut Band Aid, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Lucius also wrote and performed an original song called "What's the Use in Crying?" in David Byrne's film, Contemporary Color which was released in theaters March 1, 2017.

The band released their most recent single, "Million Dollar Secret" in Episode 7 of the final season of the HBO Series Girls.

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Reception

Lucius has been lauded by The New York Times for their "luscious, luminous, lilting lullabies", praised by NPR for their "charisma and charm," and described by Rolling Stone as "the best band you may not have heard yet."

The Guardian featured Lucius as its New Band Of The Day on February 14, 2014 and described them as "the missing link between Arcade Fire and Haim... How can they fail? They won't." Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is a noted fan of the band and has featured their music in his blog.

The two frontwomen are also known for their synchronous style that exudes an "idiosyncratic visual persona" in their choice of dress, stage set up, and performance. The two even shared the same hairdresser, although they have switched to identical wigs.

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Current members

The group is a four-piece featuring two lead singers and two multi-instrumentalists:

• Jess Wolfe - lead vocals, bass synth and founding member
• Holly Laessig - lead vocals, keyboard and founding member
• Dan Molad - drums and backing vocals, production
• Peter Lalish - guitar and vocals

Former Member

• Andrew Burri - backing vocals, multi-instrumentalist
  • Departed the band following their SummerStage show in Central Park on September 23, 2016.

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Discography

Albums

EPs

• Lucius EP (February 2012)
• Pulling Teeth Ten Inch Vinyl (November 2016)

Singles

• "Hey Doreen" (2013)
• "Tempest" (2013)
• "Turn It Around" (2013)
• "Don't Just Sit There" / "Genevieve" (2014) - Two-track single
• "Born Again Teen" (2015)
• "Madness" (2016)
• "Something About You" (2016)
• "Dusty Trails" (2016)
• "What We Have (To Change)" (2016) - Limited 7" Vinyl Release
• "Pulling Teeth" (2016)
• "The Punisher" (2016)
• "Million Dollar Secret" (2017)
• "Until We Get There (Acoustic)" (2017)
• "Neighbors" (2018)
• "Eventually" - Tame Impala Cover (2018)

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References

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External links

• Official website

Source of the article : Wikipedia