Songs from the Bromley House and band formation (2005–2011) Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig first met in 2005 as students at the
Berklee College of Music and began performing together. In 2007, they founded Lucius after moving to
Ditmas Park, Brooklyn to pursue a musical career. The two lived in an old Victorian mansion which had a 60-year-old recording studio and vintage pianos inside. In 2009, Wolfe and Laessig self-released
Songs from the Bromley House, a biographical ode to the house and the experiences that they had in their Brooklyn home. During this period, they were joined by producer Doug Wamble. The band made a one-time pressing CD of the album and has not released the album since. Shortly after the release of
Songs from the Bromley House, Wolfe and Laessig connected with Dan Molad. By 2010, the three were collaborating on future Lucius music. During this period, Pete Lalish was introduced by Molad, and the two soon joined Lucius, making it a four-piece. About a year later, Molad met singer and guitarist Andy Burri who was invited to join the band. Following this, in 2011, most of the music the band had already made together was re-recorded and later released as their debut EP.
Lucius EP and Wildewoman (2011–2015) The quintet released a self-titled EP in February 2012.
Lucius received several placements in TV shows including ''
Grey's Anatomy and Catfish: The TV Show. The band did a Tiny Desk Concerts performance in January 2013 which is hailed by fans as one of their most iconic performances to this day. That same year, the Silver Sound Music Video Film Festival + Band Battle awarded the "Go Home" video as Best Animation. Their song "Until We Get There" gained significant popularity after its feature in season 2, episode 24 of the TV show New Girl''. The band toured the EP throughout the first half of 2013 while finishing the recording of
Wildewoman–produced by band member Dan Molad.
Mom + Pop Music released
Wildewoman in North America on October 15, 2013. It received favorable reviews from
Rolling Stone and
Consequence of Sound. The album was released worldwide on March 31, 2014, via
Play It Again Sam.
The Guardian described it as "60s girl group-inspired songs doused in a tonic of baroque pop and saccharine folk." The record was praised for its eclectic mix of musical styles that ranged from retro pop to reflective folk. The song "Until We Get There" was featured in the film
If I Stay and was included on the 2014 soundtrack. During their world tour between the fall of 2013 and the end of 2014, Lucius also played music festivals and opened for artists including
Tegan and Sara,
The Head and the Heart,
Sara Bareilles,
Andrew Bird,
City and Colour, and
Jack White. The deluxe version of
Wildewoman was released in October 2014. It features live recordings and covers, with one version of their song "How Loud Your Heart Gets" produced by Spoon's
Jim Eno for
Spotify. The band ended their world tour with a sold-out show at
Terminal 5 in New York on December 6, 2014.
Good Grief (2016– early 2017) The band's second album,
Good Grief, was released on March 11, 2016. It was co-produced and engineered by Grammy-winning engineer
Shawn Everett, and was mixed by
Tom Elmhirst. Songs were inspired by the band's two years on the road with
Wildewoman, and written in late 2015 when the band relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Departing from their previous sound, the album focused on "moody Eighties-synth melodies and raw lyrics about the hardships of marriage." The deluxe edition of
Good Grief features the band's cover of
The Kinks' song "
Strangers" which gained attention from a crowd-sourced video of the band performing in Petaluma, California in August 2014. In July 2015, Wolfe and Laessig performed with
Roger Waters and
My Morning Jacket at the
Newport Folk Festival. The band has also performed tracks from
Good Grief on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and
Late Night with Seth Meyers. "Born Again Teen" and "Dusty Trails" were featured on the fifth episode of
Cameron Crowe's show
Roadies. In the final episode of the first season, Wolfe and Laessig performed the
Lowell George song "Willin" with
Jackson Browne. In September 2016, Andrew Burri departed from the band. On November 25, 2016, the band released a two-song 10 inch vinyl record titled
Pulling Teeth which contained two B-sides–"Pulling Teeth" and "The Punisher".
Nudes and Touring with Roger Waters (mid 2017–2021) The band released their first compilation album,
Nudes, in March 2018. The collection features acoustic versions of songs from the band's back catalogue, new songs, and a duet with
Roger Waters. Wolfe and Laessig joined Waters to sing backup vocals on the
Us + Them Tour. The pair also sang a featured duet based on
Clare Torrey's wordless vocals in
The Great Gig in the Sky. The tour covered North America, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, South America, and Mexico. The world tour began in Kansas City in May 2017, and ended in Monterrey, Mexico in December 2018.
Second Nature (2022–2024) After years of collaborations, Lucius returned to their own music with their fourth studio album,
Second Nature, on April 8, 2022.
Second Nature was produced by
Dave Cobb and
Brandi Carlile and released on the
Mom + Pop Music label. The lead single "Next to Normal" was released simultaneously with the album announcement on January 11, 2022, followed by three other singles "White Lies", "Heartbursts", and "Dance Around It"–a dance song that features
Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile. In a press release, Lucius member Jess Wolfe stated that the album derived from the personal experiences of grief that she and the rest of the band experienced during the pandemic, further adding that the album's musical direction was intended for the band to "[dance their] way through the darkness".
Second Nature earned Lucius a nomination for Best Pop Record from The American Association of Independent Music. On November 2, 2022, Lucius released "Muse" as a single. Lucius toured
Second Nature on their headlining North American tour throughout 2022 and 2023. They also toured with
Shakey Graves throughout summer 2023 and supported
Gregory Alan Isakov in the fall. Lucius supported
The War on Drugs and
The National in Summer and Fall 2024. During the tour Lucius performed "I Don't Live Here Anymore" with The War on Drugs. In 2024, Lucius contributed harmony vocals to several tracks on Grammy-winning producer
T Bone Burnett’s album
The Other Side, Burnett’s first solo release in nearly twenty years. Their vocals appear on “Waiting for You,” “The Pain of Love,” “The Race Is Won,” and “Little Darling,” complementing the album’s Americana-leaning production. In 2024, as enough time had passed to avoid any conflict with their old label, Lucius re-recordedthe
Wildewoman album with their new bandmates under the title
Wildewoman (The New Recordings).
Marcus Mumford,
Devon Gilfillian, and frequent collaborator
Brandi Carlile joined Lucius on the new versions.
Lucius (2025) In February 2025 the band announced a new self-titled album
Lucius, set to be released on May 2, 2025, alongside The Gold Rush Tour set to begin on May 6, 2025. On February 6, 2025, Lucius released "Gold Rush" as the first single on the album. A second single, "Impressions" featuring
Madison Cunningham, was released on March 4, 2025. A third single, "Do It All For You" was released on April 4, 2025. == Collaborations ==