Gig review: Lucius (Stereo)

The sparse crowd can be attributed to a combination of factors - the gig taking place on Easter Sunday at the end of a long and sun-drenched holiday weekend filled with cultural happenings courtesy of Record Store Day.

Any thoughts that the atmosphere could be muted by the low turnout is quickly assuaged the moment the band’s peerless leading ladies start to sing - with Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig’s vocal harmonies filling every inch of vacant space with warmth.

Appearing in matching vintage dresses, blonde bobs and mustard tights; the girls sing by turns to each other and the audience, backed by a band of three musicians in matching stripes.

It’s an image - with knowing echoes of Blondie and Talking Heads - as arresting as the music Lucius make; Big Apple 60s girl group pop, given added impetus by folksy guitars and glorious, ludicrously-catchy choruses.

The songs are mainly drawn from debut album ‘Wildewoman’, with the title track, ‘Go Home’ and ‘Turn It Around’ providing the peaks in a show bereft of troughs.

By the end of the main set Jess and Holly, sisters in all but genetics, leave momentarily to rapturous applause.

But the best is yet to come, as the whole band reappear in the middle of the audience to perform an accoustic encore played in spellbound silence.

It’s a transcendent performance that many are sure to feel foolish for having missed out on. Next time Lucius make the trip over the pond they’ll be playing places as big as their voices.