Jun 3, 2011

This may be one of the best “discovery” stories I can personally attest to. This year at SXSW The Yes Way and I were grabbing some breakfast burritos from a truck on the other side of the tracks away from 6th Street. As we were eating there were these two beautiful voices coming from the empty lot behind the truck. Obviously I got up and was pleasantly surprised to see a little crowd gathered around a keg of beer bobbing their heads as Lucius stood atop what seemed like a milk crate stage.

Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig are dual threat singer songwriters at the vocal helm of Lucius. Describing their voices is as delicate of a task as the songs themselves. Unlike other much more famous bands that utilize the multiple female vocals, Wolfe and Leassig never seem to be trying to one up each other. There are limited “ooohs and aahs” and zero squawking animal noises. Their voices actually seem to intertwine into one soft sonic element that if it wasn’t layered between the two of them it might not even be audible. Even more admirable is the songwriting and arrangements themselves. Very simple instrumentation allows the lyrics to cut you down to size especially with “Comatose” as they describe “a girl looking down the wrong end of the telescope… she’s gone comatose waiting for this thing to grow*.”

**Lyrics are solely the assumption of the author who asked for yet to be released tracks from the band because he’s selfish **

And with another yet to be released “Dolly” where they claim “I’m your Dolly, stuffed with extra baggage, lay me down to shut my eyes” before belting out “I DONT NEED YOU ANYWAY, GO HOME.” It can only be explained as a beautiful rage as the acoustic guitar, sparse percussion and occasional accapella bursts tear at the heartstrings.

I feel bad for writing about songs that you can’t quite hear yet, unless the band lets me post something… Lucius? Fortunately RethinkPopMusic has booked them for our FREE Northside Festival showcase 06/16 at Spike Hill and you can hear them in person for yourself.