“We strive to do things that are outside of genre,” Jesse Miller, the bass player for the electronic jam band Lotus said. This is certainly true about the group’s most recent self-titled release, for which they are currently on tour.
The album shies away from a traditional rock sound and incorporates more drumbeats, wavering synthesizers and samples. It clearly demonstrates the group’s instrumental talent and eclectic musical influences, with songs like “Bush Pilot” featuring horns akin to Afro-Cuban music. However, the songs primarily leave something to be desired for the listener, as they bleed into one another, each synth line and guitar riff becoming indistinguishable from the next. And perhaps this is what allows Lotus to explore improvisation in an impromptu, malleable manner onstage. We sat down with Miller to discuss the new album, improvisation and Lotus’ Feb. 17 show at Chicago’s own Congress Theater.
The new self-titled album is more electronic than your last two albums. How does the music-writing process change when you take an electronic approach versus a more traditional rock approach?
I think the main difference is that me and [guitarist] Luke [Miller] started with a synthesizer instead of a guitar and that’s sort of the main difference. Our previous album, Hammerstrike, had a lot more rock-oriented material on it. So I personally like to write with whatever instrument I think that part is going to end up being. You know, if I’m writing a keyboard part, I’ll write it on a keyboard. If I’m writing a guitar part, I’ll write it on guitar. Just the simple fact of starting with a synthesizer instead of starting with a guitar can definitely lead things in that direction
How has the use of more electronically-based music affected your improvisation during live shows?
I don’t know that it’s really changed all that much. I think for a long time, we’ve thought about the basic ideas of electronic music while we improvise, such as repetition, when is phrasing happening, dynamics and build-ups and breakdowns. That stuff is very important in electronic music and dance music and even when we play in more of a rock style, those are cues that we pick up. And I think what it goes back to is minimalism and minimalist music. We were really into Philip Glass early and that idea of kind of the hypnotic power of repetition is something that we definitely picked up in electronic music and is a really strong feature of electronic music. We’ve always tried to incorporate that into our improvisations.
In terms of creating songs, do you go in with a consciousness of knowing that it’ll head in an electronic direction or a different direction? Do you have a consciousness of the genre it’s going to go in?
I think I wouldn’t say that genre is really key. I feel like one thing we really strive to do is to do things that are outside of genre. But one thing that is connected to genre especially in electronic music is tempo. And I think that’s something we think about on the very early stages. Because whenever you’re writing anything, you kind of really need to start with, "Okay, what is the beginning?" Maybe you’ll end up speeding it up or slowing it down but right when you start a basic way to start recording things is to start with some kind of pattern or even a drumbeat or something super simple just so you can record things and have them go together. So, I think in terms of that, yeah, if you want to, if you’re thinking of something at 95 bpm, it’s gonna be a whole lot different than thinking of something at 120 bpm. So, I think that choosing a tempo is definitely one of the first things you need to do when you’re in composition. Or at least what we need to do.
Going along with that, in terms of finding samples, do you start songs from there or are samples sort of something that you hear that goes along with what has been in the collective consciousness of where a song is going with the band?
Well, I think, when we talk about samples, we mean something that we’re not performing live, we’re just triggering. And for us, that’s usually not a kind of a method of crate-digging and pulling out these things like a DJ Shadow would. For us, it’s usually creating something in a studio or a pre-recording of other players. So it’s all part of the composition. We write the tracks and then we work on arranging them live. And sometimes we say, "Okay, there’s a section where maybe nobody can play that because they’re playing something else and I have it on a sample." Or it’s something like a string part that we recorded some violin and cello players that we aren’t able to do that live. So then, we use a sampler to play that."
What do you think about bands that don’t really improvise and sound sort of they’re right off the record when you hear them live? And what it has meant to you guys to have that extra element that entices people to go to the shows?
Well, I think for one it makes it interesting for us. That’s something for me—especially after doing this for quite a while already—always being able to do something fresh is what keeps it exciting. But I think it does give us the ability to respond to a crowd and to know what’s going on with ourselves in a more immediate way. You can kind of do unexpected things when you’re improvising and I feel like that’s what’s fun for us and fun for the crowd too. And we’re really getting into something that we’ve never done before and really kind of harnessing the energy of the crowd and getting into something exciting where we don’t necessarily know where it’s going to end up and neither does the crowd.
What are the challenges of playing in a venue like Congress Theater?
Usually as far as production, it’s easier in bigger places because it’s designed to handle a big show. I feel like we have much more challenges when we go to smaller rooms that are maybe not prepared for the kind of production we’re bringing in. Obviously the challenge is that we have to sell more tickets. So it’s really just a challenge of attracting a bigger crowd. This Friday’s show is shaping up to be a pretty big one. It’s possible it might even sell out.