The Goo 1
Interview SARAH PENNINGTON LUCIUS The American in
die pop band Lucius has released a new version of their previous album The Wildewoman, The Wildewoman (The New Recordings) for its ten year anniversary. The album ensures the integrity of its former while elevating production and welcoming new listeners to their sound. I got to sit down with Jess Wolfe and reflect on the band’s journey and artistry. .. once we write a song it becomes anyone and everyone else’s .. Were there things you wanted to change or keep that felt important for the integrity of the The Wildewoman (The New Recordings) version? We just wanted to give it an homage and to pay it some respect–where we were as a band when we first recorded it and what a special moment that it was. It truly connected us to our fan base, to the opportunity to tour the world and to meet people and see things. Having played it for ten years as a band and being able to celebrate it and honor the fact that we still play most of those songs. How it has shifted and evolved in meaning and sonically through the years. ‘Wildewoman’ speaks on the experience of life as a woman who embraces the complexity of what it is to be human. A woman who steps outside the imposed societal expectations as solely a caretaker and transactional object - a woman who changes with the wind. What is a moment or age where you felt like you broke free of the confinements society placed on you? PAGE 30 I think the album is what was the inspiration for that idea. Both Holly and I grew up in different situations, but having had a similar isolation or the feeling of not really having a community. Being able to write from a place of knowing that feeling but also wanting for other people who are in the same position to know that there’s a world–a rich deep world–out there waiting for them. The idea of hope and possibility and that you can create that for yourself. That’s what inspired and anchored the record, both in meaning and in our approach to the band as a whole. Your front-leading partnership has spanned many years. Sisterhood regardless of blood relation and friendship is a cornerstone of every woman’s experience and has inspired and cultivated strength that has persevered for centuries. How do you find your closeness affects your writing and creative decisions? I think it is such a unique thing that we get to witness each other’s lives as artists and as friends. So when we sit down as collaborators at the writing table, we have seen each other’s experiences firsthand, so we can write on behalf of each other’s experiences in a way that’s quite unique. Me having been through a divorce, or us having been through loss, I am able to at least peek through her life in this very intimate and unusual way. It gives me a little more insight and ability to be able to contribute, and her to mine on a creative level. I am very grateful for that. I am so grateful that I have a righthand collaborator. It’s a very special thing. ‘How Loud Your Heart Is’, is a special track to me. I just turned 25 and am in such a pivotal part of my life right now and look back on relationships when I was younger. Now I am grown and am experiencing love and relationships of all shapes