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"  Photo: Courtesy of Sony Music &amp;quot;This is my ELLE sex advice column,&amp;quot; Patricia (Patti) Beranek announced to me last week. We were sitting in a conference room at ELLE&amp;#039;s office with her husband and St. Lucia bandmate Jean-Philip Grobler. &amp;quot;I think it&amp;#039;s good just to do your own thing, be your own person,&amp;quot; she went on. &amp;quot;Honesty, respect, and love. Those are the three things that I rate highly. It goes for any relationship.&amp;quot; Beranek surely knows what goes into a partnership\u2014she&amp;#039;s one part of the two-year-old, five-person synth-pop band St. Lucia (rounded out by Nick Brown, Ross Clark, and Nick Paul), and she just celebrated her one-year marriage anniversary to Grobler (though they&amp;#039;ve been a couple for 11 years). So I was all ears to hear her words of wisdom. When asked how that notorious first year of marriage went, she admitted that it was the hardest 12 months she&amp;#039;s ever had. &amp;quot;In terms of just the pressure we felt, from everywhere,&amp;quot; she explained. &amp;quot;Everything happened this year\u2014there were a lot of big decisions.&amp;quot; She&amp;#039;s partly referencing St. Lucia&amp;#039;s much-anticipated debut album, When the Night, that was just released this week as well as their U.S. tour, on which they will be opening for Two Door Cinema Club. Hits from the new 12-song, synth-pop lineup have already made it into several of my Spotify playlists, including the summery first single, &amp;quot;Elevate,&amp;quot; and the catchy jam, &amp;quot;Wait For Love&amp;quot; (which, embarrassingly, has me shimmying at my desk whenever I&amp;#039;m plugged in).  St. Lucia&amp;#039;s sound is undoubtedly happy with &amp;#039;80s-inspired melodies offset by modern beats, but Grobler swears there are elements of melancholy in his music. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s more to the songs than just being happy,&amp;quot; the South African-native explained. &amp;quot;They have an equal amount of sadness as they do happiness, and that is what creates the tension and electricity in the songs.&amp;quot;  Yet, it&amp;#039;s hard to ever imagine this outfit without their signature high-energy pep. Just watch them rock out on stage\u2014and trust me, after seeing them perform live at this year&amp;#039;s stormy Governors Ball and perfectly sunny Lollapalooza\u2014I can vouch that these guys rock (hair-whipping involved).   Photo: Courtesy of Sony Music  When asked if Grobler, who is the frontman of the group, writes love songs for his dearest, he confirmed that it happens\u2014but not intentionally. &amp;quot;In the past, I never wrote any love songs, that was not my thing,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;But I realized the other day that almost every single song on the album has something to do with love, in some way. It was totally unintentional!&amp;quot; Though the couple admitted that it can be challenging to balance finding alone time together when touring with a band (often, they even have to share a room with a third party) versus finding along time for themselves (&amp;quot;Sometimes it&amp;#039;s like, &amp;#039;I need to get away from you right now,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Beranek said), they wouldn&amp;#039;t have it any other way.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s so nice to be able to see the world with the one you love,&amp;quot; Beranek added. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s amazing.&amp;quot; Grobler chimed in, &amp;quot;Yeah. Well, it&amp;#039;s the world, every freeway in America, every McDonald&amp;#039;s, and every rest stop\u2026&amp;quot; Catch St. Lucia tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, or just enjoy their weekend playlist below, curated exclusively for ELLE.com.                                                   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a15250/st-lucia-interview-relationship-when-the-night/>