Lucius – “White Lies”
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In the past few years, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, the two leaders of Lucius, have been in collaborative mode, helping out people like the War On Drugs and Brandi Carlile on record and onstage. But now, Lucius are about to release Second Nature, their first album of their own since 2016’s Good Grief. The duo recorded Second Nature in Nashville’s famed Studio A, with Brandi Carlile and Dave Cobb producing and with Carlile and Sheryl Crow singing backup. They’ve already shared first single “Next To Normal,” and now they’ve also released another track.
“White Lies” is a stark, plaintive song about trying to enjoy the last few moments of a relationship even though you know that relationship is on its last legs: “I don’t wanna know the meaning/ I just need you now/ We both know how it ends/ There’s nothing to figure out.” Sad song! Wolfe and Laessig sing it over spartan pianos and drums, and their harmonies hit hard. In a press release, Wolfe says that she wrote the song about her own divorce:
“White Lies” was the first song we wrote after I got divorced. It’s the laying in bed at night, cycling through the last 10 years of your life, wondering what was, what could be and why it wasn’t. It’s the moment right after you rip the band-aid off and are frantically pedaling backwards, trying to hold on to what’s left, if anything at all. “I just want to lie with you,” the double meaning and double-edged sword; if only one last moment together could save you from a broken heart.
Listen below.
Second Nature is out 4/8 via Mom + Pop Music (U.S. and Mexico), Dine Alone (Canada), and Second Nature Records/Secretly Distribution (the rest of the world). Pre-order it here.