NEW YORK (AP) — The magic created by the vocal mix of Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, collectively generally known as Lucius, has opened many doorways for them within the music business.
Generally fairly actually — like once they arrived on the dwelling of Joni Mitchell, invited by Brandi Carlile to sing at one in all her “Joni Jams,” and Paul McCartney answered their knock.
It is a heady expertise, singing at Mitchell’s home. Tipped prematurely that McCartney is likely to be there, Laessig and Wolfe rehearsed a model of “Goodbye,” a track he wrote that was successful for Mary Hopkin in 1969. They sensed the second he acknowledged it — hey, that is my track!
The ladies have collaborated with many artists via the years, amongst them Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Harry Kinds, Roger Waters, Jeff Tweedy, the Killers, Battle on Medication and Mumford & Sons. This yr, they’re concentrating on their very own music with Lucius, a rock band that additionally contains Dan Molad and Peter Lalish.
They’ve launched a self-produced disc that displays their experiences settling in Los Angeles and beginning households, titling it merely “Lucius” though it is their fourth album.
An album that felt like coming dwelling
“It felt like a coming home to ourselves,” Wolfe stated. “There wasn’t really a question, actually, whether the record would be titled something else. It just felt like it was us, and let’s give it our name.”
Laessig and Wolfe met and shortly bonded 20 years in the past as college students on the Berklee Faculty of Music in Boston. They first sang collectively as a part of a faculty venture to remake the Beatles’ White Album — their model of “Happiness is a Warm Gun” won’t ever see the sunshine of day — that was deserted as a result of they started writing their very own music.
“We were always inspired by Phil Spector and Elliot Smith and people who used double vocals as an interesting textural thing,” Wolfe stated. “And we thought, well, we could actually do this live. We both wanted to be lead singers, but together.”
“Unison singing,” notes Laessig, “is not for the faint of heart.”
Try the heartbreaker “ The Man I’ll Never Find” — notably the stripped-down, piano-led model — for a spellbinding instance of their work.
Many have wrongly assumed they have been sisters. They appear a bit alike, and play up this picture of two who’ve change into one by ceaselessly dressing alike onstage. Even offstage: they arrived at The Related Press for an interview in almost matching, all-red outfits with similar make-up. They’re disciplined in alternating who solutions questions.
It may be, let’s be sincere right here, a bit creepy.
“We’re dressing the sound,” Wolfe defined. “I grew up in the theater. Being able to escape and feeling like, you know, you can put on your costume, put on your uniform and become something else for a moment in time. Even though it feels honest and real and close to the heart, there’s something magical about it.”
“When you look at us, we wanted you to see one,” she stated. “We didn’t want you to see two.”
The gimmick served them properly as they sought to make a reputation for themselves, Laessig stated. “We were touring in the van and doing festivals and nobody had a clue who we were, but we walked around in matching outfits. People were like, ‘What is this about?’ Oh, come see us. We’re playing at this stage at 3 p.m.”
Their collaborative nature is a power they’ve dropped at engaged on initiatives with different musicians.
“People who bring us in know that they’re going to have something that’s solid between the two of us,” she stated. “We just speak each other’s language. And we like building worlds within worlds. Luckily we’ve been given the freedom in all of these different projects to be us.”
Sharing seems, sharing types and now, sharing a nanny
Actual life brings its parallels, too. They reside in properties minutes from one another and, throughout the previous yr or so, each gave start to infants.
Collaborating with others has its strengths, and Lucius introduced in Madison Cunningham and The Battle on Medication to work with them on two songs on the brand new album. However changing into recognized for his or her work with others comes with a threat hooked up, that they lose sight of themselves within the course of.
“We like exploring different worlds and seeing how it takes shape and how we can get lost in it,” Wolfe stated. “There’s something really enchanting and magical about that. And, yes, sometimes after you explore that world, it doesn’t necessarily feel like you.”
To that finish, the “Lucius” album is in a single sense a response towards the dance-oriented manufacturing hand that Carlile and Dave Cobb introduced for the 2022 album “Second Nature.” The extra rock-based new disc sounds just like the musicians are extra snug. It “feels honest and real because we wrote about things that were just happening in our lives,” Wolfe stated.
They’re wanting ahead to a busy summer season of taking part in that music on tour, and sharing the expertise with their younger households.
“We get to do it together and see the world together and our kids are going to know different places and cultures and foods and things, more than I had as a kid,” Wolfe stated. “As tough as it can be with the nap times and sleep schedules, it’s a beautiful thing.”
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David Bauder writes in regards to the intersection of media and leisure for the AP. Observe him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
