“We absolutely support women inside the industry, outside the industry, in their careers, and in their lives. We speak to a lot of women coming from our perspective as artists, through the songs we write and the things we talk about. As far as Lucius supporting women goes — that’s obviously a no brainer.” -Holly Laessig of Lucius
Lucius, the powerfully evocative five piece band from Brooklyn, are connoisseurs when it comes to mixing disarming directness with pure pop guile. The songs on their sophomore album, Good Grief, are delivered wryly but lovingly in the sort of melodic wistfulness that Lucius have embraced wholeheartedly throughout their career. That kind of compelling sincerity to their craft, combined with years of creative fearlessness and hard work, led to Lucius duo Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe singing backup for legendary Pink Floyd founder, Roger Waters, at the very first Desert Trip music festival in California this year. According to Laessig, it was an out-of-body experience. “It was totally wild. If you told my younger self that this would happen, I wouldn’t believe you. It was a dream just being there.” She continues to gush over the life changing event. “[Waters] is so detail-oriented and puts so much of that into every show. He spent a lot of time with us perfecting our parts and welcomed us to do our own thing. It was really, really valuable.”
To say that Lucius employs a particular strategy when it comes to making songs would sell the musicians dangerously short. “Writing separately or writing together — there hasn’t been a specific formula for us. We set aside time to have writing sessions. We rented an Airbnb in Vermont for the last record. Sometimes songs start from a chorus, sometimes they start from scratch. There’s no set way on how we do things.”
Despite being one of the front women of such a highly visible facet, Laessig admits that confidence didn’t always come naturally. “I still get nervous about performing, but it comes in waves. I started singing lessons in high schools; I self-taught by listening to the radio and different records and mimicking what I heard,” she confesses. “At one point, I never considered being a singer because I was so shy and I thought it would never work. Now when I perform, I just go into a different headspace.” Laessig pledges to use her platform to empower other women with the music of Lucius. “We absolutely support women inside the industry, outside the industry, in their careers, and in their lives. We speak to a lot of women coming from our perspective as artists, through the songs we write and the things we talk about,” she explains. “But as far as Lucius supporting women goes — that’s obviously a no brainer.”
