Lucius
Featuring a pair of Berklee College of Music voice majors in Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, who wear matching hairstyles and outfits to visually complement their serpentine harmonies, Lucius blend torchy folk-rock and urban indie pop. After debuting with Wildewoman in 2013, the band's first record to crack the top half of the Billboard 200 was their second full-length, 2016's moody Good Grief, which looked to slicker, '80s-styled pop without abandoning acoustic balladry. They continued to experiment with a range of influences on albums such as the Brandi Carlile co-produced Second Nature (2022). In the meantime, the duo earned a Grammy nomination for their contributions to Carlile's "You and Me on a Rock." Carlile then surfaced on Lucius' "Housewarming," the one new song on 2024's colorful Wildewoman (The New Recordings).
Formed in Brooklyn, New York in the late 2000s, Lucius also relies on the talents of drummer Dan Molad (CHIMNEY, Via Audio) and guitarist Pete Lalish (Uni Ika Ai), both formerly of Elizabeth & the Catapult. Multi-instrumentalist Andrew Burri rounded out the original lineup, which appeared on the group's eponymous debut EP in 2012. It was followed a year later by their New York Times- and NPR-approved full-length debut Wildewoman, issued regionally by Mom + Pop, Dine Alone, and Play It Again Sam. Lucius toured extensively in support of the Molad-produced album, making multiple trips across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including a European tour with Jack White. Wolfe and Laessig also appeared as guest vocalists on critically acclaimed albums including San Fermin's debut and Tweedy's Sukierae, and were part of the Rentals' lineup for 2014's Lost in Alphaville.
Around the time they relocated to Los Angeles, the five-piece returned to the studio in 2015, this time with producer Shawn Everett (Weezer, Julian Casablancas). The resulting Good Grief was released in March 2016 by the same labels. It reached number 92 on the Billboard 200 as well as charting in the Top 15 of the alternative, rock, and independent albums charts. Later that year, they contributed vocals to John Legend's Darkness and Light. Amid a relentless touring schedule with Lucius, the two lead singers made time to accept an invitation to back Roger Waters at California's Desert Trip in October 2016. The two-weekend festival of legends that also included Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, among others, had them singing for a crowd of 75,000. That November, the band released the 10" "Pulling Teeth," and Burri gave notice that he was leaving the group to pursue other projects. In March 2017, the band delivered the single "Million Dollar Secret," which appeared on an episode of the final season of HBO's Girls. That June, Laessig and Wolfe appeared on Roger Waters' album Is This the Life We Really Want? and joined him on tour as his backing singers for the next year-and-a-half. In the meantime, in March 2018, Lucius released Nudes, a set of newly recorded acoustic versions of their back catalog alongside three covers, one of which was a live-in-studio recording of "Goodnight, Irene" featuring Waters. Guitarist Nels Cline also made an appearance on the album. The Richard Swift tribute 7" "Christmas Time Is Here"/"Keep Me Hanging On" followed on the Fug Yep Soundation later in the year.
In addition to touring with Waters in the late 2010s, the singers contributed vocals to recordings by the likes of Sheryl Crow ("Don't) and Harry Styles ("Treat People with Kindness"). They appeared on two songs from Ozzy Osbourne's 2020 LP Ordinary Man, and in 2021, Lucius were featured on the title track to the War on Drugs' album I Don't Live Here Anymore, as well as on the Grammy-nominated track "You and Me on a Rock" from Brandi Carlile's In These Silent Days. The band returned with original material of their own in the form of the April 2022 full-length Second Nature, which split the track list between sleek electro-funk and lyrical ballads. Produced by Carlile and Dave Cobb in Nashville, it featured both Carlile and Crow on the song "Dance Around It."
The next year, following tours with Shakey Graves and Gregory Alan Isakov, Lucius inked a deal with Fantasy Records, which released the single "Stranger Danger" that November. While it previewed their next original studio LP, their first album for the label proved to be a newly recorded version of Wildewoman, produced and mixed by Molad. Issued in May 2024, Wildewoman (The New Recordings) combined vibrant retakes of otherwise loyal renditions with reworkings that made room for guest spots by Marcus Mumford, Devon Gilfillian, and Brandi Carlile (on new track "Housewarming"). That year, Lucius toured both as headliners and on a bill with the National and the War on Drugs.
© James Christopher Monger & Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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Discography
71 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Wildewoman (The New Recordings) (The New Recording)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on May 31, 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Second Nature
Alternative & Indie - Released by Mom+Pop on Apr 8, 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Old Tape (Single Edit)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on Aug 20, 2024
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Wildewoman (The New Recordings) (Deluxe)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on May 31, 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
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Stranger Danger
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on Nov 15, 2023
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
I Don't Live Here Anymore (feat. Lucius)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Atlantic Records on Sep 15, 2021
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Muse
Alternative & Indie - Released by Second Nature Records on Nov 2, 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Fug Yep No. 1
Folk - Released by Fug Yep Soundation on Dec 7, 2018
Available in24-Bit/88 kHz Stereo -
Housewarming (The New Recording)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on Jan 26, 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Next to Normal
Alternative & Indie - Released by Mom+Pop on Jan 11, 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Dance Around It (feat. Brandi Carlile & Sheryl Crow)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Mom+Pop on Mar 16, 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Dance Around It (feat. Brandi Carlile & Sheryl Crow) [Fancy Feelings Remix]
Dance - Released by Mom+Pop on Aug 3, 2022
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Take A Picture
Alternative & Indie - Released by Three Sirens Music Group LLC on Nov 8, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Девушка аристократка
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Lucius on Jan 30, 2025
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Man in My Radio
Alternative & Indie - Released by Mom+Pop on Aug 21, 2020
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Next to Normal (Harvey Sutherland Remix)
Dance - Released by Mom+Pop on Jul 20, 2022
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
In Due Time (feat. Lu Mellow)
Pop - Released by Lucius on Jun 4, 2021
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Wildewoman (The New Recordings) (The New Recording)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on May 31, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Old Tape (Single Edit)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on Aug 20, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Wildewoman (The New Recordings) (Deluxe)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fantasy on May 31, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo