Cardigan venue to take viewers to Broadway with ballet show
The wistful songs of Joni Mitchell set the scene for the UK premiere of 'The Two of Us', a duet of deep intimacy and yearning. It was created in 2020 for the Fall for Dance Festival in
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The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
The queens of collaboration in Lucius are finding themselves again musically
The magic created by the vocal blend of Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, collectively known as Lucius, has opened many doors for them in the music industry. Sometimes quite literally — like when they arrived at the home of Joni Mitchell, invited by Brandi Carlile to sing at one of her 'Joni Jams,' and Paul McCartney answered their knock. It's a heady experience, singing at Mitchell's house. Tipped in advance that McCartney might be there, Laessig and Wolfe rehearsed a version of 'Goodbye,' a song he wrote that was a hit for Mary Hopkin in 1969. They sensed the moment he recognized it — hey, that's my song! The women have collaborated with many artists through the years, among them Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Harry Styles, Roger Waters, Jeff Tweedy, the Killers, War on Drugs and Mumford & Sons. This year, they're concentrating on their own music with Lucius, a rock band that also includes Dan Molad and Peter Lalish. They've released a self-produced disc that reflects their experiences settling in Los Angeles and starting families, titling it simply 'Lucius' even though it's their fourth album. An album that felt like coming home 'It felt like a coming home to ourselves,' Wolfe said. 'There wasn't really a question, actually, whether the record would be titled something else. It just felt like it was us, and let's give it our name.' Laessig and Wolfe met and quickly bonded two decades ago as students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They first sang together as part of a school project to remake the Beatles' White Album — their version of 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' will never see the light of day — that was abandoned because they began writing their own music. 'We were always inspired by Phil Spector and Elliot Smith and people who used double vocals as an interesting textural thing,' Wolfe said. 'And we thought, well, we could actually do this live. We both wanted to be lead singers, but together.' 'Unison singing,' notes Laessig, 'is not for the faint of heart.' Check out the heartbreaker ' The Man I'll Never Find' — particularly the stripped-down, piano-led version — for a spellbinding example of their work. Many have wrongly assumed they were sisters. They look a little alike, and play up this image of two who have become one by frequently dressing alike onstage. Even offstage: they arrived at The Associated Press for an interview in nearly matching, all-red outfits with identical makeup. They are disciplined in alternating who answers questions. It can be, let's be honest here, a little creepy. 'We're dressing the sound,' Wolfe explained. 'I grew up in the theater. Being able to escape and feeling like, you know, you can put on your costume, put on your uniform and become something else for a moment in time. Even though it feels honest and real and close to the heart, there's something magical about it.' 'When you look at us, we wanted you to see one,' she said. 'We didn't want you to see two.' The gimmick served them well as they sought to make a name for themselves, Laessig said. 'We were touring in the van and doing festivals and nobody had a clue who we were, but we walked around in matching outfits. People were like, 'What is this about?' Oh, come see us. We're playing at this stage at 3 p.m.' Their collaborative nature is a strength they have brought to working on projects with other musicians. 'People who bring us in know that they're going to have something that's solid between the two of us,' she said. 'We just speak each other's language. And we like building worlds within worlds. Luckily we've been given the freedom in all of these different projects to be us.' Sharing looks, sharing styles and now, sharing a nanny Real life brings its parallels, too. They live in homes minutes from each other and, within the past year or so, both gave birth to babies. Collaborating with others has its strengths, and Lucius brought in Madison Cunningham and The War on Drugs to work with them on two songs on the new album. But becoming known for their work with others comes with a risk attached, that they lose sight of themselves in the process. 'We like exploring different worlds and seeing how it takes shape and how we can get lost in it,' Wolfe said. 'There's something really enchanting and magical about that. And, yes, sometimes after you explore that world, it doesn't necessarily feel like you.' To that end, the 'Lucius' album is in one sense a reaction against the dance-oriented production hand that Carlile and Dave Cobb brought for the 2022 album 'Second Nature.' The more rock-based new disc sounds like the musicians are more comfortable. It 'feels honest and real because we wrote about things that were just happening in our lives,' Wolfe said. They're looking forward to a busy summer of playing that music on tour, and sharing the experience with their young families. 'We get to do it together and see the world together and our kids are going to know different places and cultures and foods and things, more than I had as a kid,' Wolfe said. 'As tough as it can be with the nap times and sleep schedules, it's a beautiful thing.' ___
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Spectator
Christopher Wheeldon's real gifts lie in abstract dance
Christopher Wheeldon must be one of the most steadily productive and widely popular figures in today's dance world, but I'm yet to be persuaded that he has much gift for narrative. His adaptation of the novel Like Water for Chocolate was a hopeless muddle; his response to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is mere vaudeville; and I'm praying to St Jude that nobody is planning to import his dramatisation of Oscar Wilde's downfall, premièred in Australia last year. But as the elegant craftsman, and sometimes the inspired artist, of more abstract dance, he is without doubt a great talent. The Royal Ballet's programme of four of his shorter pieces showcases his strengths. Let's get the misfire out of the way first – The Two of Us is set to four Joni Mitchell standards, prissily sung live on stage by Julia Fordham (to do her justice, she was struggling against a faulty sound system). Lauren Cuthbertson and Calvin Richardson are wasted as they mooch around in shimmering pyjamas without ever establishing any compelling counterpoint to the implications of the lyrics or the mood of the music: they might as well be extemporising, and there's just not enough interest in the movement they come up with to hold one's interest. But everything else on offer gives much pleasure. Fool's Paradise, first seen at Covent Garden in 2012, is richly melancholy – perhaps subliminally a meditation on how relationships between three people inexorably gravitate into two, but more obviously a beautiful example of Wheeldon's neoclassicism. His aesthetic has been influenced by his long sojourn in America and his choreographic style reflects that of New York City Ballet luminaries such as Jerome Robbins and Justin Peck as much as it does that of his Royal Ballet precursors Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan: sleekly athletic, clean in line, devoid of jerks and twerks, milk and honey for dancers with fluent classical technique.
Cambrian News
18-05-2025
- Cambrian News
Cardigan venue to take viewers to Broadway with ballet show
The wistful songs of Joni Mitchell set the scene for the UK premiere of 'The Two of Us', a duet of deep intimacy and yearning. It was created in 2020 for the Fall for Dance Festival in
