Lu Racine feels like he’s living a secret life sometimes.
“It’s strange, because I think some people think our lives have changed so massively,” Racine told me in a Zoom conversation with him and his bandmate Echo Mars, the two founding members of Brattleboro indie-rock quartet THUS LOVE. “But our personal lives are the same. We all have day jobs; we’re all still broke and do townie shit.”
Mars laughed and added, “People at my job don’t even know I’m an artist. We were just this little queer band from Vermont. But then we take off to tour Europe.”
“I feel like a spy!” Racine said. “It can be weird to reconcile the two modes sometimes, for sure.”
It’s understandable that Mars and Racine are still coming to grips with the runaway success of the band they formed in 2019. Born out of the small but mighty Brattleboro music scene, THUS LOVE — originally a trio with bassist Nathaniel van Osdol — gained international attention with their 2022 debut on Captured Tracks, Memorial.
The band’s blend of new wave-leaning post-punk and glassy indie rock leapt out on tracks such as “Inamorato,” which showcased Mars’ powerful voice; angular, inventive songwriting; and natural ability as a front person — the singer oozes charisma with that perfect blend of vulnerability and sneering, rock-and-roll attitude. The band soon caught the eyes and ears of such publications as Rolling Stone, the Guardian and Stereogum, and it started popping up at big-time festivals, including the Reading Festival in England.
The tricky thing about dropping a debut as good as Memorial is, of course, following it up. Most bands with the kind of buzz THUS LOVE had generated would duly move to New York City or some other market larger than their tiny corner of southern Vermont. They’d record their sophomore record in a proper studio with an established producer.
THUS LOVE aren’t most bands.
Instead, the group retreated to a barn near Brattleboro that Mars had converted into a studio to lay down the tracks that would become All Pleasure, THUS LOVE’s new LP, which dropped on November 1. The title is taken from an axiom the band members have recently adopted in relation to their breakout success: If it’s not joyful, don’t do it.
“I feel like we’re opening up the audience’s expectations on this album.” Echo Mars
“Part of the experience we’re trying to create is making band-ship and touring this holistic experience,” Mars explained. “That ties into the concept of All Pleasure. We have this platform, and we love doing it, but it’s only sustainable if we actually enjoy doing it.”
With a new motto in tow, the band started writing and recording the new album but soon ran into a hurdle when founding member van Osdol decided to leave the group.
“It just wasn’t working for them anymore,” Mars said. “It sucks, and we really miss Nathaniel, but it’s about the good that comes from the bad.”
After van Osdol’s departure, Mars and Racine reached out to bassist Ally Juleen, a formerly New York City-based musician whom they had met while she was playing with the band Bat House. Juleen had recently moved to Putney, and the band desperately needed a bassist before a run of shows in Brazil. She was in but had one condition: Her former Bat House bandmate, guitarist and keyboardist Shane Blank, needed to join as well.
It was a no-brainer for Mars and Racine, who were excited about the sonic opportunities expanding to a quartet offered.
“We’d always wanted more guitars and keys and vocals,” Racine said, adding that Blank and Juleen have helped the band progress creatively.
“There’s no better way to have your second record stand out from the first than bringing in new voices,” Mars said. “I feel like we’re opening up the audience’s expectations on this album. Because if you make the same thing, they’ll expect you to keep doing that.”
The band particularly shines on the album’s title track, the first song the new-look lineup recorded together. Gone — or at least shoved to the periphery — is the chorus-drenched, ’80s-loving aesthetic of Memorial, replaced by a harder, grungier sound and a flirtation with glam rock. Juleen’s voice comes in strong, trading lines with Mars’ as they offer up an anthem for the band’s dedication to finding joy in rock and roll once again. “I ain’t high, but I feel good / Like a drug, but I don’t come down,” Mars sings.
All Pleasure is a stunning record that doesn’t just avoid the dreaded sophomore slump but expands THUS LOVE’s sound. It evolves the band into a more complex beast than the punky, queer trio that showed up seemingly out of nowhere after the pandemic.
“When you do something enough, you become less fearful of failure,” Mars said. “So I think we’re just braver about it all now.”
To celebrate the release of All Pleasure, THUS LOVE are in the midst of a mini-tour. On November 1, the day the album dropped, they hit the stage for a hometown gig at the Stone Church in Brattleboro, the venue where they got their start and where Racine still works booking shows, among other duties. They pop down to Brooklyn on Friday, November 8, for a gig at Elsewhere Zone One before they head back up Interstate 87 and finish the release shows with a performance at Radio Bean in Burlington on Sunday, November 10. After that, it’s off to Europe to tour with English indie-rock outfit the Vaccines.
“It’s a strange dichotomy for sure, touring Europe and then coming home to our little scene. But it’s easy to be poor in Brattleboro,” Racine said with a laugh. “Easier than in the city, that’s for sure. But we have a solid base here with people we love and artists we respect.”
With a stellar new LP made on their own terms, THUS LOVE have used their joy as a lighthouse in the storm of sudden success, focusing on the core of what they want their band and sound to be. All Pleasure is a resounding yes to that approach.
THUS LOVE with Robber Robber, Sunday, November 10, 8 p.m., at Radio Bean in Burlington $15/20. radiobean.com
All Pleasure is available on CD and vinyl at thuslove.bandcamp.com and is streaming on major services.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Double Your Pleasure | Brattleboro indie rockers THUS LOVE return with a revamped lineup and new album”
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.
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