Nudes, the latest album from Lucius, comprises 10 tracks of stripped-down, acoustic original songs as well as reimagining of songs from Lucius's back-catalog and some well-placed covers. The acoustic approach is a departure from Lucius's previous release, Good Grief, but the sound may not be too surprising to those who heard Lucius perform a MicroShow for The Current in the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol in March of 2017.

"It was definitely one of the things that inspired the approach," says Jess Wolfe of Lucius, who, along with co-frontwoman Holly Laessig, co-produced Nudes. "That, and amidst every one of our shows with electric sets, we have a moment in the show where we strip everything back, take everything away, and have this intimacy, this quietness with the audience. It's a way to connect, it's a way to simplify, to make some kind of precious moment all together. The rotunda was definitely an extension of that, and then when we did that show, it was such a powerful thing, we thought, 'Well, why not do a whole tour in either unusual rooms or acoustically stunning rooms where we can really hear our voices ringing out?' It certainly played its part in the decision making."

Wolfe and Laessig recently spoke to The Current to share some thoughts about each of the tracks on the new album.

1. Woman

(Original song for the new album)

Jess Wolfe: The song is about somehow finding peace with the idea of separating or parting ways or saying goodbye to somebody and not wanting to do so. The idea that, "Meet me in the place of no goodbye / I'll be there, you can't miss me" — you can't miss me in a place where I don't have to say goodbye. There's a very dreamy, even surrealistic approach to the songwriting itself, and I think that comes from when you're in a situation of having to part ways with somebody whether you choose to or not — death, or whatever it is — it's like an out-of-body experience, and I think that played its part in a musical sense.

2. Right Down the Line

(Cover of a song by the late Gerry Rafferty, originally released 1978)

Jess Wolfe: I always loved the song. I was actually driving in Nashville — we had just finished our first leg of our U.S. tour with Roger Waters, and I decided to stay a couple extra days. I was driving with a friend in her old pickup truck, and it came on the radio. And I was like "You know what? The last time I heard this song I said I was going to write it down and that we were going to cover it and I totally forgot."

So I wrote it down and I went to Holly the next day and I said, "We've got to do this song." She loved it, and we were about to go into the studio to work on Nudes, so it was perfect timing.

And I'd never really heard anybody cover it in a really long time, except for Bonnie Raitt. It's just one of those songs that you forget about, and when you hear it, you are reminded of how damn good it is.

A lot of singers, the female singers that we grew up listening to and loving — Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Eva Cassidy — they were professional arrangers, re-imaginers of other people's songs. And so I think that's always been a connection for us as well.

3. Tempest

(Resetting of a track from Lucius's 2013 album, Wildewoman)

Holly Laessig: Over the years, we've done so many different sessions and shows and different iterations of our songs; sometimes it was because there were limitations about how many instruments we could bring into a radio station, or about the size of the venue, or if we were going to sing them on top of a couple of wooden barrels at South by Southwest! There were multiple iterations of every song, and it became one of our favorite things to do, to reimagine things as we go. So we've done that with a lot of the songs, reimagined them in different ways to keep it interesting for us and for our audience.

I think for this one, we took some of that, but we also were in the studio working through it and this is where we got it to go.

4. Something About You

(Resetting of a track from Lucius's 2016 album, Good Grief)

Jess Wolfe: When we first wrote the song, Holly and I made a demo of the song, and it was very throwbacky; the form of it was more similar to how it is on Nudes than what it became when the guys were arranging it with us for Good Grief — before we went into the studio and DESTROYED IT! (laughs) Just joking! Until we got everybody involved and developed it to be something else.

And so when we were going back into the studio for Nudes, we were like, "Why don't we listen to that old demo again?" And then we took a lot of parts of that and added this stomping, clapping figure to it as well.

5. Neighbors

(Original song for the new album)

Holly Laessig: It kind of started from a feeling of slight paranoia, you could say; some days you walk outside and the climate that we're in — both literally and figuratively — there is a little bit of a battle in your head every day of what's real and what isn't', and who's real and who isn't'. I think this song was a little bit of a reflection on that.

It can make you feel isolated and can perpetuate that sort of virtual living that we all take part in every day with the way that technology is and everything else. So I think the song came out of a little bit of that, and in general, just a feeling of being insular, of being isolated in your surroundings in a general sense.

6. Eventually

(Cover of a song from Tame Impala's 2015 album, Currents)

Jess Wolfe: Currents was a record that played over and over and over in our tour bus and van; we were really inspired by the songwriting. It was really important to do something to acknowledge our peers and also to try to challenge ourselves to do something that was a little more current.

Holly Laessig: We havn't met Tame Impala yet. One of them came to our show in Perth, and may or may not have sent a video of our version to [Tame Impala's frontman and producer] Kevin Parker. Not sure what he thought about it. Let us know, Kevin!

7. Until We Get There

(Resetting of a track from Lucius's 2013 album, Wildewoman)

Holly Laessig: This song continues with the goal of the record as a whole, which was to feel like we were in the room with the audience, singing in a microphone with a couple of guitars the way that we do as part of our show. We really tried to maintain that level of the live experience.

Jess Wolfe: And not be too precious about anything. We recorded the 10 songs in two days, so we couldn't really be precious about anything if we wanted to. So it was important to ease into it and make it simple.

8. Million Dollar Secret; feat. Nels Cline

(Resetting of a Lucius single released in 2017)

Jess Wolfe: Nels Cline is a good friend of ours. We've collaborated with Wilco over the years, thankfully. When we were coming to New York and knew we were doing this, I got in touch with him to see if he was around. He came in and we taught him the song and recorded it and were done within an hour.

It was pretty powerful; we sang in the same room. We actually sat down the whole time and sang, creating a sort of Zen environment. His little dog, Buttercup, was running around with a bell around her collar sort of dangling and glimmering in the background. He was so kind to offer his time and to be a part of it.
To see [Lucius guitarist] Pete Lalish and Nels playing in the same room is a pretty powerful experience; they're both mind-boggling players. It was really fun to see them work off of each other.

9. Feels Like a Curse

(Original song for the new album)

Holly Laessig: This song has Pete and [Lucius multi-instrumentalist] Danny [Molad] playing double acoustic guitar. They were playing the same part on two guitars; we thought it would be nice to have the double vocal, double guitars doing the same thing, live.

10. Goodnight, Irene; feat. Roger Waters

(Traditional)

Jess Wolfe: This is always the song that ends our celebrations on tour. We often have these late-night hangs after shows, where at some point in the evening, the guitar comes out and "Goodnight, Irene" happens to be the song we land on in the end. It's such a feel-good, personal one for us as it is, and also Holly and I used to cover this song years ago, just the two of us, so it already was a part of our repertoire.

But it happened we were about to play our shows in Brooklyn, and we called Roger up and he loved the idea, especially because at Electric Lady Studios, there's this awesome 1947 Voice-O-Graph — which is basically a telephone-booth recording studio, direct to vinyl. So that crackling, sizzling, really warm, beautiful sound that comes from there is exactly what it sounds like, straight to the record. It was really fun. I think we did two takes because each of us wanted to keep a vinyl! It was just a really sweet moment and clearly a great thrill to have Rog accept our invitation.

Looking ahead, Lucius continue to be among the hardest-working people in the music industry. Lucius will continue to tour through the end of March, at which point Laessig and Wolfe will depart on another tour with Roger Waters that will traverse North America and Europe. Lucius will play shows in Europe and North America in the early autumn, after which Laessig and Wolfe will again join Waters for a tour of Latin America.

"We try not to think about it," Laessig says. "That's how we do it!"

"If you think about it too much, it's overwhelming," Wolfe concurs, "but in the moment, it feels good to be doing what we're doing, especially in this context when we're playing these beautiful theaters where we're able to really embrace a room and the acoustics of a room, and it's pretty special. And it started in St. Paul [at the Capitol], so we're always grateful and indebted to our Minnesota family."

Resources

Lucius - official site