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They're wildewomen, to start.
They're also the synchronous frontwomen of Lucius, a critically acclaimed indie pop quintet from Brooklyn now touring in support of their second album, Good Grief. But, back to the "wildewoman" thing.
Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig met at Boston's Berklee College of Music in the early aughts and formed a unique songwriting partnership that has now spanned most of their adult lives. They shape melodies together, pen lyrics sometimes based off the other's experiences and share a visual aesthetic, most notably in the way they look during performances: Completely alike.
They even sing as a unit, complementary voices blending together in what sounds at times like a single, albeit unearthly, one.
Wolfe and Laessig dropped a notable EP in 2012 featuring the infectious, '60s girl group-inspired "Turn It Around." Along the way, they picked up Dan Molad, who also happens to be Wolfe's husband, as well as Pete Lalish and Andrew Burri, each multi-instrumentalists who round out the group's musical backbone. Together, they headed into a studio and reworked the EP for 2013's full-length Wildewoman.
Though it's often called their debut, it's not technically. Wolfe and Laessig recorded the now out-of-print Songs from the Bromley House in 2009 but eventually chose not to reprint it, considering it "from a different era." Wildewoman -- pronounced similarly to 'wildebeast' -- reflects the band as a whole with its current lineup, Laessig says.
"The first record, when we were making it we really didn't have the band together yet, so we wound up rerecording it, and that process took a long time," she says.
Their most recent album, Good Grief, takes that evolution even further, marking the band's first writing collaboration from its inception. "This record, we had more of a plan with all five of us going into the studio," she says.
Inspired largely by the loneliness and exhaustion experienced during a heavy, years-long touring schedule in support of Wildewoman, Good Grief amps up a range of emotions in swelling, lush bursts that try to see -- as the title intimates -- the growth in struggle.
How's that for duality?
But, it's fair to wonder: For a group so aesthetically focused on symmetry and mirror images, has collaboration outside its founding members' partnership created unexpected challenges?
Laessig says she and Wolfe still write together, creating rough melodies and lyrics, while the group's male members work on arrangements, often as a team of their own. Then, they head into a studio with two separate demo tapes and, she says, "flesh out the rest of the landscapes and the arrangements for each song."
Remaining simpatico during recording is hard enough for any band, but embarking again on tour is an entirely different beast. At times a 'wild' one, if you will. Laessig says the group has learned.
"The current tour is going really well," she says. "I think because of the traveling experience we have we know when someone needs alone time and we're operating a bit better."
They've "upgraded some aspects of the travel experience" by moving into a bus and bringing on someone to sell merchandise. They've made it a priority to take a day off after every four of five shows. And, she says, they've grown to know one another more deeply:
"I think because of the traveling experience we have, we're able to handle all of the large personalities more successfully."
Through the growing pains and collective changes, Laessig says she and Wolfe still feel like wildewomen, a term they coined inspired by the celebratory ways the former's mother referred to her free spirited nature as a child.
She says she was speaking recently with Sarah Negahdari, frontwoman and guitarist for the Happy Hollows, who are opening for Lucius on Friday at Trees, about Negahdari's "amazing stage presence." Negahdari responded that she is able to dance and move so freely because, Laessig recounts:
"The people coming to see [Lucius] want to see women of substance who aren't necessarily sexy or, you know, doing what's expected."
It speaks to the reputation Lucius has created for itself. The band preserves a certain "out-there" quality, and fans are responding in kind. Still, maintaining such a distinct aura must create challenges. How difficult is it to dress just like someone else almost every day?
Much fuss has been made about Wolfe and Laessig's look, which the latter describes as "alien twins"; they've even said they sit next to one another during hair cuts to achieve a cohesive style. But, on any given day, an individual's attire can carry a lot of emotional weight. Do they ever disagree about what to wear?
There's a trick to it. Laessig says they tend to have a similar aesthetic and, in general, know the shapes that work for both of them. But, when they're on the road they only bring about five styles and rotate per performance.
"Feel like wearing blue today? Nah, how about this? It's easy -- we've got a system," she says.
