Album Notes

LUCID 3 are:
Victoria Girling-Butcher vocals/guitar/keys/songwriter
Marcus Lawson bass/keys/backing vocals
Derek Metivier drums

Winners of Best Indie Video 2004, 4th Annual Juice TV awards (NZ equivalent of MTV)

REVIEWS
--
Lucid 3 are not just too good for their shirts, but their sexy undies and best shoes, too. In short, the group are a three-piece led by the clear, ringing voice (not to mention songwriting and guitar chops) of Victoria Girling-Butcher. This is their second album of intelligent pop/rock songs: songs with choruses that could melt your resistance, ballads that break your heart (check out the title track). If that wasn't enough, they're almost ridiculously adept, incorporating an assertive take on current modes. An organic, semi-acoustic rootsy quality (folk, blues and funk) blends perfectly with nonchalant 'trip-hop' beats and contemporary radio sensibilities.
(Metro magazine)
--
It was a mere two years ago that Lucid 3 made their debut with the beguiling 'Running Down The Keys'. Vocalist. Guitarist and songwriter Victoria Girling-Butcher made her way into the national consciousness with such smoothly insinuating tunes as 'Fluid' and 'Smooth Machine'.
The new album is entitled 'All moments leading to this', and that's just what it feels like. The band has gelled into a solid unit. While the focus is still on Victoria's songs and her singing, bassist Marcus Lawson proves to be the band's secret weapon thanks to his rubbery, funkified bass lines that provide just the right amount of weight to Victoria's airy melodies. Drummer Derek Metivier not only holds the beat, but also the production duties. His restrained touch creates an environment where Girling-Butcher's voice can shine. A less intuitive producer would clutter things up with layers of keyboards and percussion, but Metevier takes on a "less-is-more" approach that allows Victoria's gorgeous voice to hold centre stage.
Due to her assured stage performances, Victoria Girling-Butcher has established herself as one of New Zealand's leading female vocalists. 'All moments leading to this' cements the band's reputation as one of New Zealand's most inventively melodic groups.
(Real Groove magazine)
--
Lucid 3 burst out of the speakers as a fully-formed vision, at the centre of which stands songwriter and lead singer Victoria Girling-Butcher. She is a capricious, restless leader, taking the music through numerous twists and turns, pausing to gather breath before she and band members Marcus Lawson and Derek Metivier plunge headlong into another passage of controlled abandon. It's an eclectic sound, a mix of jazz, country jug band, pop and punk, which is wrapped together tightly and seemlessly, and for this accomplishment alone, Lucid 3 deserves considerable credit.
All of these strands come together magnificently in the single, 'A.M Radio', which is sure to be one of the songs of the year. Perhaps it is simpler to perform than it sounds; it lopes jerkily along, an assembly of musical fragments, before an overlaid bass pattern drives the song to a killer chorus. It'd be fascinating to pull it apart and see how it works but you get the feeling it didn't happen by accident. It's New Zealand's answer to Prince's 'When Doves Cry'.
While 'A.M Radio' might be Lucid 3's masterpiece, the rest of the CD is always entertaining. One of the most powerful tracks proves to be the title song, a quietly compelling ballad that demonstrates that the band can soar when it uses restraint.
All in all, a very impressive, assured second album, signalling that Lucid 3 may well just be New Zealand's next big thing.
(Rip It Up magazine)