CD Odyssey Disc 1252: Lucius

Another day, and some new albums to add to my collection. Today’s additions were:

• Three albums by James McMurtry (“It Had to Happen”, “Walk Between the Raindrops” and “Saint Mary of the Woods”). These span his career from 1997-2002.
• The Honey Dewdrops “Silver Lining.” Another husband-wife folk duo.
• Applewood Road’s self-titled debut, which features Emily Barker collaborating with fellow folksters Amber Rubarth and Amy Speace
• Molly Tuttle “When You’re Ready”. Her latest release is an early favourite for my 2019 top ten albums list.

I’ll talk about all those when I roll them, but for now let’s discuss an album that I overlooked on my 2018 Top Ten list, but I’m now correcting that mistake.

Disc 1252 is… Nudes

Artist: Lucius

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? What’s better than a Giant Head on an album cover? Two Giant Heads of course! Lucius thought so highly of these two giant heads that the CD comes with a fold out poster about 18” square in case you would like these two faces staring across a room at you. I do not, and so have left the faces – beautiful as they are – safely stowed inside the CD case.

How I Came to Know It: I read a review of this album last year and it intrigued me enough to take a listen. I discover a lot of my music by just reading a lot of music reviews and keeping an open mind. The former is only good for finding music, but the latter is good for everything.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Lucius albums. I like them all but “Nudes” is the best.

Ratings:  5 stars

Sometimes more is less, and in 2018 two acts proved this true, baring it all to create masterpieces.

Like St. Vincent’s “MassEducation,” (reviewed back at Disc 1207) “Nudes” uses nudity as a metaphor. St. Vincent posed nude for her album cover, and for Lucius it is the album’s title. In both cases, a band known for their electric prowess unplugged, baring the bones of their songs for all to see.

I’m often wishing that an artist would strip a song down. Sometimes all that production is hiding some other deficiency, but often it is just getting in the way of the tune. Neither St. Vincent nor Lucius are guilty of those offences, but I still enjoyed getting a chance to hear their music in a different format.

While the effect gives “Nudes” a folksier feel than Lucius’ early releases, this music remains pop at its core. Amazing pop, in fact, with melodies that soar and dip like a seagull enjoying a strong shore breeze.

It helps that Lucius’ co-leads Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig have such beautiful voices. Either could sing these songs on their own, but together they create sublime harmonies, fitted together so close it feels like a single unearthly vocal. They reminded me of the Staves or the Wailin Jenny’s, but with a pop seventies a.m. radio vibe. It is like the Carpenters were crossed with the Supremes.

As noted earlier, “Nudes” is an acoustic effort and Lucius uses the opportunity to reimagine old songs (three tracks), write new ones (four tracks) and even throw in a few covers (three tracks). Despite the varied source material, the cohesive approach to both the production and arrangements makes the album a cohesive whole.

The change in style inspires Lucius to new heights, and while the overall sound is consistent, the individual songs show incredible range, taking established structures from a variety of genres and twisting them slightly into something fresh and new.

The original version of their 2016 song “Something About You” is pure indie pop, but the cover on “Nudes” has a delightful swing that is reminiscent of sixties Motown. They take their 2013 song “Until We Get There” and pull it from pop into contemporary folk with no ill effects.

New tracks “Neighbors” and “Woman” are every bit the equal of the remakes. “Neighbors” has the bass-driven gallop of a Western combined with bluesy-pop, perfectly suited to its feeling of alienation from someone in a new city, uncertain of their surroundings and relationships alike. “Woman” is dream pop crossed with a romantic ballad from some early seventies psychedelic rock record. The record seamlessly reaches across genres, coopting multiple influences into something fresh.

Two of the three covers are masterpieces. On the second track Lucius tackles the Gerry Rafferty classic “Right Down the Line.” I love the original and went to Youtube to remind myself of it. After a few listens between the versions I could not pick a favourite.

Lucius also tackles Tame Impala’s “Eventually” and here it was no contest. Lucius takes Tame Impala’s fuzzy mess of a song, polishes it off, unplugs it, converts it to their own style, and makes it great. It almost made me want to give Tame Impala a second chance. Just kidding, no it didn’t.

The only slight stumble on the record is the last track; a cover of the traditional folk song “Goodnight, Irene” which they undertake with what sounds like a half-cut Roger Watters. I forgive this a little because Wolfe and Laessig’s vocals are so good. Also, “Goodnight, Irene” is meant to have a bit of barroom sway to it. The biggest sin here is that song isn’t a masterpiece like the nine that precede it.  

In the end not only does this record land on my list for Top 10 Albums of 2018 (now updated) it makes it all the way up to #3. I’m going to go back and repost that corrected list because it troubles me to think that people are out there might look at a Top 10 list that doesn’t include “Nudes”.

Best tracks: All of them except maybe “Goodnight, Irene”