head’s a target
actin’ real feminine
make ’em vomit
‘Power’ is the debut album from Lotic, due for release on July 13th via Tri Angle Records. It is an expansive exploration of the many ways in which power can be expressed and experienced.
Today we share the first track “Hunted,” quoted above, which returns the colonial gaze with an arched eyebrow and a hushed chant in one of the more pop-leaning moments on the album.
Those familiar with Lotic’s two 2015 EPs — ‘Heterocetera’ (Tri Angle) and ‘Agitations’ (Janus) — will trace a warm-blooded evolution: ‘Power’ retains the Berlin musician’s inquisitive intensity, while mining the depths of nuance like never before. Across its 11 songs, Lotic stretches their wings into unexpected new spaces, both compositionally, and, for the first time, vocally.
“It originally started as an empowerment album,” says Lotic. “I felt that I needed to offer something outside of myself, as sort of a healing moment. And then I lost my apartment. Mentally, I could only work on music once every three months or something. The question of what would be empowering — the answer to that changed so often over a two-year period. I had to figure out who I was all over again. With this record, I went back and incorporated all of my musical selves.”
Lotic was born in Houston and studied electronic music composition and saxophone at university. They moved to Berlin in 2012, where they helped form the Janus club collective. In 2015, they were commissioned to create two remixes for Björk’s ‘Vulnicura’, and subsequently were invited to be the opening act at her live show in Berlin.
‘Power’ is grounded by Lotic’s love of Texan marching bands — “Beats and drumming are so integral to black culture,” they explain — and was in part inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between The World And Me.
As well as being available digitally, ‘Power’ will also be released on limited edition vinyl, housed in a die cut sleeve designed by Marwan Kaabour, and will feature a vinyl only exclusive track called ‘Burn A Print’. The album artwork was shot my acclaimed director and photographer Matt Lambert, styled by Rich Aybar and features Lotic wearing clothes designed by Iris Van Herpen.
Per a recent announcement, Lotic’s pronouns are they/them.
‘Power’ track list:
1. Love and Light
2. Hunted (Soundcloud)
3. Bulletproof
4. Distribution of Care
5. The Warp and the Weft
6. Resilience
7. Fragility
8. Nerve
9. Heart
10. Power
11. Solace
Vinyl-only bonus track: Burn A Print.
‘POWER’ album artwork: pictured above. Higher res here.
Links:
‘Power’ iTunes: https://
‘Power’ Bandcamp: https://
‘Power’ Spotify: http://open.
Lotic on Facebook
Lotic on Twitter
Lotic on Instagram