Hailing from Canterbury, UK, lotusbliss is the result of a literal lifetime of creating, experimenting, noise-making and camaraderie between brothers Josh, Seth and Adam. Growing up making music together, it was a light hearted conversation in 2018 around favourite band names which sparked the idea that they could and should form their own band.
lotusbliss have received praise from the likes of Earmilk, Atwood Magazine and PRS’ M Magazine, as well as BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson and BBC Introducing Kent to name a few. ‘Unwired‘ is the third single to be released from lotusbliss’ latest EP ‘An Aching Sea’.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with lotusbliss about the new release, influences, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
SETH: There’s a fairly eclectic range of music taste between the three of us, but this area of kinda alt/indie guitar pop is where we all share a mutual interest. We all love artists like The National, War on Drugs and Japanese Breakfast so these sort of guys form a lot of our references for this project. Listening to lots of this area of music has of course impacted our writing styles as well, so when we write together we generally end up in this musical sphere very naturally.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
JOSH: We didn’t particularly set out to start a band, it kind of happened by accident! We were all having breakfast one time, eating crepes, and putting Lotus Biscoff spread on them. One of us said, with mouthful of crepe, “I’m in Lotus bliss”, to which the reply was “That would be a cool band name”. After that point, the idea slightly wormed its way into our heads – what if we did start a band? Being brothers, we’d grown up together and had made music together but never worked on anything with any intentionality but it has been a great adventure. Music, for us, is a communal activity that brings people together in all their differences, and we share ours in the hope that it will resonate beyond us and can mean something to those that hear it.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
JOSH: We try to draw inspiration from a variety of sources and art forms – focusing only on ‘similar artists’ in music can make your creations end up a little stale. Spending time in art galleries, watching challenging films, engaging in a meaningful way in community life, listening to music outside of your go-to genre and generally keeping a listening ear to the ground for inspiration are all key to keeping creatively focused. I am a keen photographer and thus far have made most of our music videos, and I think even the very process of doing that influences my songwriting. For this EP, the artwork I created was very influenced by Storm Thorgerson’s iconic designs, and I drew some of the imagery from that across into the music videos. Music taste wise, that does evolve and shift all the time and I think that’s crucial, again if you hone in too close on one thing you’ll struggle to create anything that is more than just a reproduction of what is already there.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
ADAM: We’ve been through quite a lot of big personal milestones between us over the last year or two, with graduations, house moves, a wedding and a baby. The kind of moments that can lead to a lot of introspection and general contemplation – can you tell we’re all over-thinkers?! So while we try to approach every project with a fairly open mind as to what we want out of it, I think we’ve naturally developed themes reflecting on the gift that life can be and the beauty in moments of serenity.
What was the last song you listened to?
JOSH: A friend of mine’s band called Wild Front, and their song ‘Mind Keeps Running’
SETH: WILSHIRE, Tyler the Creator
ADAM: Weird Goodbyes by The National (feat. Bon Iver). I also saw The National at All Points East the other night and it was such an awesome experience, kind of surreal!
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s? ALL
ADAM: I’m a bit of a hifi geek, full disclosure I actually work for MQA – trying to improve the audio quality we all listen to every day and better preserve digital music as the artist intended it. So MP3 is a definite no go! But I do also have a soft spot for vinyl and spend far too much time (and money!) at my local record store.
SETH: I generally listen to music through my phone, so a decent streaming quality and a good pair of earphones/headphones and I’m happy!
JOSH: I love vinyl, I’ve always been a keen collector of various things (Pokemon cards, little cars, rocks…) and collected CDs as a kid, but felt like digital made CDs slightly redundant. Discovering vinyl gave me a physical product I could collect music through and its’ tactility forces you to be much more active in your listening then streaming.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
ADAM: Tidal is hands down the best streaming service. The primary reason being sound quality, with all songs available in at least CD quality and millions in the highest available resolution. There’s also great tools for music discovery, lots of music videos and better pay for artists than the big rivals. Highly recommend!
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
SETH: One big challenge is the situation of the current live scene. With Covid stopping shows for such a long time, we’re now at a point where everyone is desperate to play and gigs that have been long postponed are finally taking place. This is all great, but it means that getting live shows booked in can be super difficult right now, and obviously this is an amazing way to find and meet new audiences!
JOSH: We’re hatching plans though so do keep your eyes peeled for new dates soon!
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
JOSH: We’re pretty active on our social media (Instagram in particular) so would love to hear from you. Do subscribe/follow us on your favourite listening platform too so you don’t miss any new music!
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
JOSH: We’d love to thank all the people that have support us so far on this journey – those who’ve listened to the music, shared it with others, come to gigs, bought merch and sent us messages to tell us what the music has meant to them – all those things mean so much, and we don’t take any of it for granted. We hope you love our new EP “An Aching Sea’ as much as we do.
