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Lucius Brings Uniquely-Styled Indie Pop to N.H.

Photo courtesy of ILoveLucius.com

Lucius, the five piece indie pop band, formed in Brooklyn, NY, is playing tomorrow night at the Music Hall in Portsmouth.

Lucius flips the script on the traditional pop configuration of men prancing out front and girl singers in the back. Instead, a pair of identically-dressed women front the band, and the three fellows mostly stay out of the way. We spoke with one of those guys, multi-instrumentalist (and Concord, N.H. native!) Peter Lalish.

Video: Check out Lucius' unique look and sound

Like, Peter, Lucius itself has New England roots, as all the band members attended the Berklee College of Music and later regrouped in Brooklyn, New York.

The band presents a strong image: iconic, uniform blond hair (not wigs as many people assume) and identical outfits segregated by gender. That kind of harmony extends to their musical stylings as well.  

In the history of music, there’s the idea of, there’s a rhythm section, a front man or front woman in a band. There’s the idea that, oh, maybe there’s a background horn section or background singers and I think what Jess and Holly…a lot of the music they grew up listening to, like early soul music…I think they were drawn to that because there’s all this rich power, there’s all this rich harmony. And then when you kind of take that towards the front, then what are you left with? You’re left with two super powerful vocalists, acting as one bullhorn.

So what is it like being in the background behind such a powerful duo?

…Being in the back is perfect for me because, you know, I wouldn’t want the spotlight…I feel comfortable being in the back, being supporting and being able to sneak in all the little noises I like to do.

Lush walls of sound, influenced by Phil Spector and soul bands of the 1970s, are rounded out with vintage instruments, like Peter’s Silvertone guitar and amp. He explains why “yard sale” priced instruments are his choice.

…When we listen to records that were made in the 50s, in the 60s…no one had access to great instruments, and a lot of the instruments were just sort of being played around with, with the design and sound, so you kind of got to go to the source if you want an older sound…that’s kind of the only way to do it.

You can see Lucius perform live tomorrow, September 17th, at the Music Hall in Portsmouth

Oldie and a goodie thanks to @shervinfoto A photo posted by ilovelucius (@ilovelucius) on May 17, 2015 at 4:31pm PDT

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