Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys is an art-pop tender-noise band defined by their openness to sonic transformation. Formed in 2015 by the South African-born frontwoman, singer-songwriter and guitarist – the project took on its distinctively ephemeral shape after relocating to Berlin in 2018.
With the band’s sound anchored firmly between restraint and release, Kruger’s voice scales its walls of ambient noise, deftly weaving whispers and guttural invocations alike through its haunted, post-punk terrain; her uniquely sonorous vocal knowing exactly when to hush and when to howl.
The band’s immersive performances, shifting effortlessly between intimacy and abandon, are celebrated for their emotional precision and force – held together by the tight, intuitive interplay between Liú Mottes (guitar), Jean-Louise Parker (viola), Gidon Carmel (drums), and Andreas Bonkowski (bass) – drawing comparisons to Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
Their acclaimed Tapes Trilogy (2019–2022) explored contemplation, transition, identity and risk. Followed by Heaving (2023), where both voice and sound edged toward something near-primal, to be then tempered by A Human Home (2024) and its lo-fi exploration of connection and belonging.
The band has toured extensively for six years, with appearances at festivals including INMusic (Croatia), MENT (Slovenia), The Great Escape and Focus Wales (UK), Viva Sounds (Sweden), Northern Winterbeat (Denmark), Grauzone and Roadburn (Netherlands), Synästhesie, Reeperbahn, Orange Blossom Special, and Maifeld Derby (Germany), and SXSW (US).
In 2023, they were awarded the Europavox Spotlight Prize, performing at five of the platform’s showcase festivals across the continent. That same year, Kruger was selected as a Keychange participant – a global network and movement working towards gender equality in the music industry. Her voice also appears on the most recent album by The Underground Youth and the last two records by Swans.
In 2026, the band will release and tour their seventh studio album, Pale Bloom – a glistening sonic emulsion that animates itself in the body of the listener, like an awakened desire stretching itself into being.
