Luscious Apparatus - Bricks & Bones

What began as one man’s dream erupted into a quartet of brilliant and talented individuals known as Luscious Apparatus. Founded by Jack Norton in 2019 in Portland, OR, he soon recruited Sandi Leeper as a vocalist, Catherine Hukle on guitar, and Daniel Henderson on drums. A lot of Luscious Apparatus’ influence comes from the 90s post-punk scene, but expect there to be elements of goth, industrial, trip-hop, electronica, and more in their music as they list the likes of Garbage, NIN, and My Bloody Valentine as influences. Though relatively new, the band had already put themselves on the right track with the release of their single ‘Infiltrate’ in January of 2022. Largely following up on that success comes their latest single ‘Bricks & Bones’. 

What you’ll notice about the song at first are the twangy guitar strings which might reminisce sunsets on the beach; that longing feeling of relaxation coming to an end. However, the heavy percussion slaps away that reality as a trickle of electronics lead into the bulk of the song. Leeper’s powerful yet hurt vocals flow into the song, both powerful enough on their own yet given a yearning sensation as epic echoes fade into the distance. Alternative rock plays a hard role as hard, but backing, guitars sweep the song and funky bass guitar blesses the structure. The song transitions back and forth into this dream like state and the rock aspect of the song multiple times, reflecting ‘Bricks & Bones’ attempt to show a “woman on a journey to control her rage.” The result is overwhelmingly successful and has driven the hair on the back of my neck to stand up multiple times. 

Luscious Apparatus is only in the beginning phase of their career, but if this is how they’re starting it then they’ve nowhere to go but up from here. Eight out of ten.