Quartet glimmers visually, musically
The goal for any musical ensemble is to combine voices such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Few contemporary artists embody this concept more effectively — and more literally — than Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, who form the nucleus of Los Angeles indie-pop quartet Lucius.
The band returns to San Francisco for a show at the Fillmore on Wednesday after two recent Bay Area appearances — first at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in October, where it played its own set and also backed up Marcus Mumford; and then in midNovember for an intimate evening benefiting local nonprofit Bread & Roses.
Whether playing to a small listening room or a festival crowd of thousands, the ensemble of multi-instrumentalists spares no detail in commanding a live show that is as engaging visually as it is sonically, and can carry any size crowd from rousing crescendo to expectant hush.
Laessig and Wolfe function as a single unit, often facing each other and singing on custom-mounted double microphones and rarely giving any sense of separation between lead and harmony vocals. Both voices sing every word, often in unison. There is not a note that either sings alone on any of the band’s three studio albums.
Wolfe, during a phone interview with The Chronicle from the band’s broken-down tour bus somewhere between Santa Fe, N.M., and Marfa, Texas, noted that she hadn’t sung without her musical partner in public for 17 years until just weeks ago at Sheryl Crow’s induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Lucius was slated to appear, but Laessig fell ill.
“Sheryl sang the song with me as a duet, so I felt comforted by that, but it was definitely weird,” Wolfe said. “You get used to using your voice together with somebody else to create this third voice, so when you strip that away it’s a very vulnerable thing ... It’s like running without a limb.”
The core band is rounded out by longtime collaborators