Originally from the Midwest, Lucas earned a B.A. in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he studied with Laura Schwendinger. He went on to earn an M.M. in Music Theory and Composition with a focus on Film Scoring from New York University where he studied with Dinu Ghezzo, former professor emeritus.

Lucas has written and produced music for over a dozen short and feature film projects, including Stephen Winter’s critically acclaimed feature Jason and Shirley (which had a theatrical run at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art in 2016), Outfest selection The Revival (dir. Jennifer Gerber, 2017), Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Feature winner Socks on Fire (dir. Bo McGuire, 2020), Lusca Film Festival selection and Spanish-language queer drama Onomatopeya (dir. Benjamín Cardona, 2023), as well as numerous news and documentary projects produced by the New York Times, such as Land of Good (dir. Ainara Tiefenthaler), which won the Best Digital Media Story prize at the 2018 RIAS Berlin Kommission Awards.

Lucas has also collaborated with acclaimed writer-director John Cameron Mitchell to score the scripted podcast series Cancellation Island starring Holly Hunter, produced by the award-winning Topic Studios and distributed by iHeartRadio in February 2025. Most recently, he scored Justice Singleton’s queer romantic dramedy short Cockroach which will premiere as an official selection at this year’s New Orleans Film Festival.

In December of 2022, Lucas released the album The Recurring Vision of a Stranger featuring looped clarinet phrases swirling over fuzzy analog synth beats.