Eighteen months after seeing Lucius produce a storming fiver star set at The Lexington it is with great expectation that we find ourselves at the considerably larger Koko tonight. Without the intimacy of the Lexington it was going to be interesting how they transition to the bigger stage.
With the bigger stage the scale of the show is obviously larger with an impressive backdrop spelling out their name in dots and clever lighting rig.
Lucius hail from Brooklyn and are fronted by lookalikes Jess and Holly in matching hair and costumes who possess voices that complement each other perfectly across the whole vocal range but particularly at the top end. They are touring their new album ‘Good Grief’ and set flip flops between this and their fine debut ‘Wildewoman’.
What is obvious from the start is that the bass is so high in the mix its thunderous beat crashes through your body to the point of uncomfortableness.
The light show is amazing and vocals are front and centre right at the top of the mix and whilst this works for a while it can be a little wearing on the ears. The rest bite comes from an acoustic interlude with just the girls and an acoustic guitar that’s brings some much needed intimacy in to the room.
It’s a nice touch that they appear in the crowd and perform one of their songs as they make their way back to the stage and there is a nice version of Elvis’ ‘Can’t help falling in love’ too.
The older songs from the stronger debut album sound as good as ever plus ‘Almost makes me wish for Rain’ from the new one.
On the whole it’s a good but patchy show that maybe a reflection of the quality of songs from the second album and why no ‘Wildewoman’?