Luluc (Lou-Luke) are an Australian band, consisting of Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett. They are based in Brooklyn, New York. Luluc have released five highly esteemed albums; Dear Hamlyn, Passerby, Sculptor on Sub Pop records and Mistletone Records (for Aus/NZ), Dreamboat (Sun Chaser Records) and Diamonds in September 2023 (Community Music).
The band is admired for their poetic writing, exquisite musicianship and understated yet compelling sound.
Albums
Diamonds – 2023
In late 2022, Luluc met with Los Angeles based manager/music supervisor Bryan Ling from New Community Mgmt, and the band later signed with the Los Angeles-based record label Community Records. Diamonds, Luluc's fifth studio album, was released September 15 2023.
Diamonds has received widespread critical acclaim. Timothy Monger at AllMusic declared "Luluc are unlikely candidates to create a classic American road song and yet, with the title track they do just that...Each album in the band's catalog is a gem and Diamonds, with its dream-like tone and bouquet of lived-in stories, is perhaps their brightest."
UNCUT reflected "Zoe Randell's low reverberant voice, like Nico fronting Morphine. This is, though, an album of upbeat rebirth, born from considered reflection". Mojo highlighted "Randell's voice is so crystalline, so deadpan it's spooky...see this as Townes Van Zandt were he refracted through the lens of Mazzy Star".
Bob Fish from Folk Music concluded "Using sonic simplicity, Luluc manage to change the rules of the game with Diamonds. Their glorious visions deliver a magic that reaffirms what we are and what we can be".
Bob Boilen featured the "Diamonds" single in his NPR New Music Mix, and Best Releases, in September 2023. "Diamonds" was also featured on Guy Garvey's Finest Hour on BBC6.
Dreamboat – 2020
In 2020, Luluc decided against a Sub Pop record deal offer on Dreamboat, citing frustration with the lag in release schedule. "We really felt the need to be more nimble, to release the work on our schedule, rather than through the label machinations which have an inevitable lag. So it was an artistic decision..." The band created Sun Chaser Records label and released Dreamboat in October 2020.
Dreamboat was released to significant praise. Jay Ruttenberg in The New Yorker wrote "Throughout Dreamboat, Luluc's fourth album, Randell's singing is crystalline and unflappable, with a strange beauty that verges on creepy—it's the kind of voice that, on a movie soundtrack, portends unspeakable doom". Uncut Magazine wrote, "Randell's vocals, timeless and pure, carries something of a myth-making quality in its timbre" (January 2021).
NPR All Songs Considered featured Dreamboat upon release and Emerald City in Bob Boilen's Top 40 songs of 2020". Narc magazine reflected "perhaps the real triumph of Luluc's Dreamboat is the consistent lullaby/Karen Carpenter vocal delivery of Zoe Randell and her ability to find memorable, interesting, pop melodies within each of the different sonic textures". Shindig noted "These are modern watercolors of ruminative elegance with an understated hypnotic flair".
Dreamboat was recorded partly in Berlin at PEOPLE festival and in Brooklyn, New York. Guest musicians included Aaron Dessner (The National), drummers JT Bates (Bon Iver), Jason Treuting (Sō Percussion), CJ Camerieri (yMusic) on trumpet; and saxophonist Stuart Bogie (Arcade Fire).
Sculptor – 2018
Sculptor was released on Sub Pop on 13 July 2018. Sculptor was produced by Steve Hassett and Zoe Randell in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It featured guest appearances from J Mascis, Aaron Dessner and Jim White among others. In its first month of release, it won worldwide praise including Uncut Magazine'''s Album of the Month and 4 star and 8/10 reviews in The Guardian, Mojo, Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar and Q Magazine. Sculptor received BBC6 and BBC2 airplay, including on Iggy Pop's LA ConfidentialMojo observed that "Sculptor yields centre-stage to Randell's haiku-like celebrations of human spirit and suburban transcendence". Uncut declared "Sculptor is the strongest and most assured record of their career. The songs dig deep emotionally – but critically their aesthetics are well-balanced, the voice and instruments perfectly calibrated...Sculptor is wide open". Line of Best Fit concluded "Ultimately, the album repays careful and repeated attention, its varied qualities cohering effectively with a measured sense of control". Live reviews have also been full of praise "Randall's voice was warm and rich with each lyric that fell on the audience...Their overall sound was marked by a timelessness that also felt avant-garde in its minimalism".