• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Apr 21, 2016 Web Exclusive By J. Pace

Maybe hearing Lucius’ “Turn It Around” on that one Samsung commercial 50 times around when the Super Bowl was broadcast reminded you of what an out-of-this-world, bona fide jam it was, and just how little it had to do with smartphones or football. Maybe you avoid television advertisements, which is frankly sensible, but in this case: your loss. (Maybe you also avoid bona fide jams, instead favoring the increasingly cited certified banger—rest assured they are one and the same.)

That song, in all its propulsive, electronic glee, might be considered a watershed in this group’s trajectory toward Pop with a capital P. With Good Grief, they continue to leave behind strains of indie-folk and increasingly trade stylistic sprawl for impeccably tight guitar-, synth-, and percussion-driven pop.

The powerhouse vocals of identically dressed Berklee music grads Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig remain the spectacle here, buoyant as ever, shapeshifting and gleefully coopting ‘80s and ‘90s pop-vocal gymnastics. The band, Wolfe and Laessig’s snaking synths included, remains singular—top-notch musicianship and live instruments are always kinda cool to see in our age of automated pop. That human touch serves to texturize, let’s say, leaving just a little roughness around the edges, somehow making impeccableness more impeccable.

If there is a “Turn It Around” on this outing, it may be “Gone Insane.” Stripped-down and built on a shuffling, off-kilter drumbeat, the hook is massive: “Go on, call me the one who’s gone insane/Oh I will be the one who’s gone insane.” In fact, Wolfe and Laessig crumble into vocal insanity as the song wraps, jumping time and losing composure to match the narrator’s presumed relationship. They have straight-up gone insane.

Pair this insanity with opener “Madness” and you’ll have an idea of the sort of relationship—#frustrationship?—fueling the lyrics. “We could be doomed,” the lamentation, and another soaring chorus is teed up and hit out of the park. That’s a baseball metaphor to encourage Samsung’s continued support of Lucius as we enter the spring and summer sports season. (www.ilovelucius.com)

Author rating: 7/10