Now a veteran of the burgeoning jamtronica genre, Lotus up to this point entails delving into lengthy cosmic jams accompanied by electronic dance beats to create a spaced-out euphoria among listeners.
With their latest album, Hammerstrike, Lotus maintain the electronic psychedelia frequent in their music but integrate quick, stimulating guitar licks and tighter instrumentals to give the album an edgy, rock 'n' roll feel typically absent in their sound. Each song has a sophisticated structure that separates it from the rest, and each instrumental stanza is full of emotion and energy typically captured only in Lotus' live performances. The band still jams throughout the album but does so methodically and articulately.
Yet the key difference between Hammerstrike and Lotus' previous efforts lies in Luke Miller's thick bass tone that drives the music in new directions. This allows the band to incorporate elements from the post-rock and classic rock genres that give their music a fresh identity. In Hammerstrike, the bass sets the tone early and gracefully steers the band from ambient to chaotic throughout the album.
The inspiring composition paves the way for a Lotus rarity: lyrics. Age of Inexperience,"" a retro, up-tempo rocker, starts with the band's two guitarists exchanging chords backed by Miller's thumping bass before breaking into silky vocals that proclaim, ""Life's gone / The angels are free / But it's never how it has to be."" The band then dives into a sinister bass-driven jam highlighted by dueling guitars and a catchy beat thrown on synthesizers.
Title track ""Hammerstrike"" follows, ignited by a dark, heavy synthesized riff. Rempel's guitar sears through a Jimmy Page-esque solo before Miller's deep bass bounces the song into a short intermission, only to be broken again by the intense opening beat.
After a funky instrumental in ""Bellwether,"" the band rips into another electro-retro beat in ""Modicum,"" which features more smooth vocals by a band that usually lets the instruments do the talking. Although a little bit quiet, the experiment with vocals works marvelously and only adds another piece to Lotus' diverse repertoire of music.
Starting out with a slow ambient beat driven by Miller's euphoric bass, ""One Last Hurrah"" picks up about a third of the way into the song with a radiant guitar-synthesizer combination that soars over Miller's poignant beat before coming to a slow end.
""Alkaline"" follows with a quirky electronic dance beat before ""Turquoise"" mixes somber lyrics with a down-tempo beat, once again highlighting the successful integration of lyrics into Lotus' music.
Hammerstrike ends with the transcendent ""Disappear in a Blood-Red Sky,"" led by Rempel's moving guitar riff backed by an ambient chorus of ""oooohs"" that appear off and on before carrying the song to its conclusion.
Lotus already played a cool style of music that made for a fun concert experience, but in Hammerstrike they establish a brilliant mixture of rock, ambience and electronica that, with the infusion of lyrics, steers the band in a new, promising direction.
