Fans of sassy, bubbly, soulful indie-pop should add Lucius to their acts-to-check-out-in-2014 list. The Brooklynites' Wildewoman reverberates with infectious tunes, hooksome melodies and songs that sound fantastic the first, fifth and 10th time. Lead singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig deserve the first set of plaudits, but the band's swing owes much to how the rest of the crew get behind those voices and push them onwards and upwards. There's a strong 1960s vibe here and there's nothing wrong with that, as demonstrated on the Motown tipped-and-topped Turn It Around; the nod to the Wall of Sound on Hey, Doreen; and the superbly pitched span of Nothing Ordinary. Throughout the whole thing, from the heartbreaker Two of Us on the Run and the dramatic Go Home to the fuzzy fun in full flight elsewhere, Lucius sound like a band who know that getting the simple things right is half the battle. ilovelucius.com
Download: Turn It Around, Go Home, Hey, Doreen