Brooklyn band Lucius hit critical mass

Jess Wolfe of Lucius shakes her head in an expression of mild disbelief. “Apparently Paul Krugman got into our music through his daughter,” she says, referring to the Nobel prize winning economist. “He turned up at one of our shows in New York. It was a bit of a surprise. He’s written some very nice things about us, which is always a help.”

The New York Times columnist isn’t the only prominent advocate for Lucius’ retro guitar pop. They were feted at the recent South By Southwest music festival in Texas, receiving an invitation to perform at Willie Nelson’s ranch outside Austin.

“We wanted to wait around to see Willie play at the end,” says Wolfe. “But it wasn’t possible — we were booked to do another gig later that day. We were performing five times a day — it was insane.”