Jones and Vinholi play in the band Good Luck Finding Iris

What do Coldplay, Two Door Cinema Club, jazz, and Brazilian bossa nova have in common? On the surface, the most similarity one might find is “music,” but members of the band Good Luck Finding Iris would say “soul.”

The band, which coalesced just last year, includes St. Paul Academy and Summit school juniors Lutalo Jones and Enzo Vinholi. Jones, a drummer, met the band’s singer and lyricist Michaela Stein, and guitarist Patrick Hintz at a summer program at McNally Smith College of Music. The three started playing together with other students from the program, but their bassist and second guitarist eventually left.

To fill the gap, Jones asked Vinholi, a bassist, to join his band.

“I [brought] in Enzo because he is my best friend, and I wanted someone that I knew I could rely on, and that I know how to play with. Enzo brings solid bass lines. His point of view on music is very much like mine, and we can often agree on how we want our songs to turn out. He takes his time with the way he plays or gets into his parts,” Jones said., “So Enzo comes in [and] he starts bringing in his creative drive to the music. That was the moment [the band started].”

The two have been playing music together for 12 years.

“[Jones] is not just some good drummer who’s really fast. Basically, he’s got a groove to his playing,” Vinholi said. “Anyone can play really fast, impressive drum riffs, but he’s got this groove—this feeling—he makes you want to dance—that’s my favorite type of music.”

Vinholi and Jones describe their music as “soulful indie,” and consider artists like Coldplay and Two Door Cinema Club as their inspiration, along with musical influences from jazz and bossa nova.

“The soulful part definitely comes from the voice. ‘Indie’ comes from the guitar, the bass, and the drums. A lot of our songs are upbeat, but [Stein’s] voice calms it down to a whole other level,” Jones said.

Vinholi also notes that their music has a “groove” to it.

“I talk about this groove, this feeling that makes you want to move your body—even if it’s a slow, sad song, you still feel the music. [And,] our singer just writes the most amazing lyrics, they’re like poems, they’re beautiful,” Vinholi said.

However, the two musicians agree that the “soul” of “soulful indie” does not just come from their singer/lyricist, but also from within themselves.

“It’s not like we’re just playing music, we’re literally playing our emotions through chords,” Vinholi said.

Those emotions come from a place of youthful anticipation for the future, of which the band’s name, Good Luck Finding Iris, is derived from.

“Our group is a group like most other teenagers that have spent our whole lives preparing for the future, and college, and what comes after college, and our lives,” Vinholi said.

Iris, a character the band developed, became the basis of their music and videos.

“Iris, to us, is that thing we spend all our lives preparing for, whether it’s finally being stable, or having a job, or falling [in] love,” Vinholi said, “[The name is] really like a ‘good luck to all those dreamers, and searchers, and lovers out there’, because that’s exactly who our band is.”

Jones also references irises, the type of flower.

“That’s where the iris comes in, too—the flower that blooms. These people come from these little buds, and then they flower,” Jones said.

Good Luck Finding Iris performed at the Acadia Café on Jan. 22 for more than 300 people.

“When you see kids you’ve never seen before dancing to your music, that’s cool,” Vinholi said.

“Those are the moments you live for,” Jones added.

The band recently signed with Subaquatic Records, a new Minnesota-based record label created this year, as one of its founding artists.

“[They’re]…roads that we wanted to go down,” Jones said.

Now under contract, the group has removed their early material from the Internet and, taking a tip from its name, the band has started anew.

“It’s the blooming moment. [The iris has] to go through so much, and there’s so many opportunities that flower has to get messed up and die, but then it eventually blooms,” Vinholi said.

They will release their first studio recordings in early March.