Photo Credit Shervin Lainez
Catch up with indie-Americana brother-sister duo The Luck and listen to the title track off their upcoming EP, True North, to be released this Fall.
What got you interested in starting a band together?
Max: We wrote a song in New York called "Bricks" in 2011... It was the first time we had ever tried singing together. I had been a solo artist for about a year and we had started writing songs together just a few months before. Esmay was in-between jobs at the time and she sang this harmony and it brought my flat mate out of his room to come and say, 'oh wiaow. Goosebumps!'. We both agreed it felt pretty good and so we recorded it in a studio on Avenue B with a super cool guy called Nick Miller who let us just go for it, free time, no click... Man, that was fun.
Anyways, we came back to London and people were really excited about the track and so we wrote some more and decided to become a duo!
Where does your name, The Luck, come from?
Esmay: Well, our last name is Luck. When we first became a duo we were having a bit of a barny in the car about what to call ourselves. Our mum, sat in the front seat, turned around and told us to quit squabbling and just call ourselves The Luck. It shut us both up and totally stuck!
Which musicians have you been influenced by?
Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, The Cranberries, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles...
How would you describe your sound to someone who had never heard your music?
Probably indie folk rock. Americana rootsy vibes. Sibling harmonies.
What were your inspirations behind your single "True North"?
Esmay: We wanted to write about figuring out who you are, following your heart, listening to your conviction, ceasing to pretend to be something that doesn't feel right. These were all thoughts and feelings at the fore for Max and I at the time we wrote it and 'True North' felt like the right title - it is about following your inner compass. And the acoustic guitar riff you hear, that's a finger picking figure Max had been playing around the house for weeks. We had a chord progression in the writing session and I remember saying 'Max - do your thing with the chords. You know - the thing!' Haha. It added the perfect vibe for the song, as did his tuning of the guitar to drop D... Max has developed this really percussive guitar style over the past few years that tends to flow through a lot of our songs. It was influenced a bit by Lindsey Buckingham, right?
Max: Yeah exactly... We listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac growing up!
Could you tell us more about your upcoming True North EP and what we can expect to hear?
Max: Well. We have 3 singles coming out over the next few months, the next one is a proper banger, called "Vertigo". Up tempo lary song about taking something that makes you feel scared and channeling that emotion into something positive so you can rise above the fear.
Then we did a love song called "If This is Love" which is a hopeful song, trying to make sense of a breakup. It's about love and destiny...
Then the last song will be "Holding On", which is actually one of the first songs we ever wrote, about watching over someone you love and helping them through tough times. Our Mum was the inspiration behind that one and it's dedicated to her. These will all be out by the end of September! We will also be recording the rest of our debut album and continue to write songs that capture the essence of what we are feeling.
Esmay: Yeah, that's all really exciting! So happy to be putting these tracks out. We also can't wait to be playing the songs live - in terms of shows, we have street performances at Pier 39 in SF late August/beginning of September and an LA show lined up on 28 September at Hotel Cafe. Hoping to head to Nashville later in the year, too!
How would you sum up that EP in one sentence?
From darkness to light.
What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?
Esmay and Max: Overall, the songs relate to how we feel at this time in our lives, the challenges we have faced and how we have tried our best to push forward and through it. The songs are all quite introverted and thoughtful - they focus a lot on trying to understand your feelings and finding your inner strength. We hope these themes resonate with people and that the songs might even help people - we want our listeners to feel like it's okay, and that they aren't alone in feeling that life can get tough and difficult to make sense of. That's the time when you pick up all your courage and stand tall. Sonically, we hope the songs can take them to a different place for a few minutes to think, relax, or find that inner strength.
Is there anything you want to add?
If you like the songs, please follow us online! Our website is www.theluckmusic.com and there are links to our social sites there. We also have Snapchat and do live streams on Facebook - @theluckmusic.