Brooklyn indie-pop band Lucius are musically transformative. Since their inception the duo of Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig have been tearjerking audiences with their seamless angelic vocal harmonies and visually stunning double-take stage personas. This past Tuesday they came to Royale behind their stellar sophomore album Good Grief and have officially stepped into mainstream stardom.
The show opened with Portland, Oregon synth-pop band Pure Bathing Culture who laid down a forty-five minute reverb soaked set. The four-piece is really the musical partnership of Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman and could be categorized as a part of the chill-wave movement that began almost a decade ago now. There is however a bit more of a mid-nineties throwback feel on top of the catchy synth-pop grooves they lay down. Versprille’s vocals are brooding and shined brightest on “Pendellum” from 2013’s Moon Tides, and “Pray For Rain,” the single cut from their latest album of the same title. To close their set they segue-wayed from their song “Scotty” seamlessly into a cover of Benny Mardonne’s 80’s soft rock classic “Into the Night” and simultaneously captured the essence and throwback vibe of their entire set in the process.
As the stage prepared for Lucius and the overwhelmingly norm core audience took the illustrious Royale step-up you could get a sense of the anticipation and excitement people had for Lucius. Then from the very first notes everyone was immediately entranced in Lucius’ world as the perfectly mirrored vocal harmonies of “Madness” filled every corner of the club and melted every heart. To say Lucius held the audience in the palm of their hands would be an understatement. Lucius’ much talked about band costumes add a visual aspect to their stage presence that not only syncs their voices but their interesting stage personas as well. One of the highlights came about three songs into their set when the band let the audience take over the vocals on “Go Home” a stunning track from their debut record. Uptempo songs like “Almighty Gosh” and “Hey Doreen” and “Almost Makes Me Wish For Rain” gave the set some groove and moved it along nicely, but the soulful ballads seem to draw out the most cathartic emotion from the audience.
Wolfe and Laessig told a short story about how they met in Boston quite a long time ago before inviting Boston, by way of Lexington band You Won’t up to the stage to join them on drums and acoustic guitar for a song. Letting their backing band turn into a five piece for a brief moment, the girls let them play out a song as they conducted a quick off-stage costume change before returning essentially to start what was almost like a second set. It was then that we got to hear both singles “Turn it Around” from Wildewoman, and the electric “Born Again Teen” which highlighted how natural their vocals can sound live compared with the somewhat overproduced layering on the record. The night closed out with “Gone Insane” a track that finally cuts Wolfe and Laessig loose as they dare each other out of the harmonies to bring the song to a dramatic peak. For an encore, Pure Bathing Culture’s Sarah Versprille joined the girls for an a capella version of Elvis Presley’s “I can’t help falling in love with you” that was both beautiful and sleepy. “Two of us on the run” continued the lullaby encore vibes before Lucius lifted the energy back up by closing out the show with crowd favorite “Genevieve.”
In the end, as much as Lucius’ 2013 debut Wildewoman may have quickly launched the duo into the consciousness of indie music world, Good Grief has brought them to next level and judging by the way the audience bounced, sang along to every song, and lapped up just about everything they did, it seems like the sky is the limit for how much popular a band like Lucius could get.
