Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in darkwave and ethereal wave styles.
Their 1995 album The Burning Circle and Then Dust received some attention for the power pop hit song "Pray" and "remains a high point of American dark rock", according to AllMusic.
[1] Lycia's music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, dark and ethereal keyboards, doomy drum machine beats, VanPortfleet's melancholic, whispered vocals and Vanflower's vivid voice.
[3] Wake was unique in that it was mastered directly onto an audio cassette tape, as opposed to the more professional multitrack recording that Lycia would henceforth use.
At the end of that year, Lycia began work on the first full-length album entitled "Byzantine", but due to technical problems it never appeared.
The final outcome was in September 1991 under the title Ionia on the label Projekt Records and is characterized by ambient textures and very flat and atmospheric sounds.
The line-up was reinforced by the singer Tara VanFlower, and this material was released in 1995 as a double CD under the name The Burning Circle and Then Dust.
Vanflower recorded This Womb Like Liquid Honey, My Little Fire-Filled Heart, and has performed two solo live shows, including the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois.
On October 26, 2014, Lycia announced that David Galas had rejoined the band and that they were recording a new album titled A Line That Connects, scheduled to be released in August 2015.
In a review for Pitchfork, Andy O'Conner describes Quiet Moments as "a somber, but beautiful collection that offers an intriguing meditation on mystery and loss".