Music is a sublime language of emotions. Dear Diary, the latest album from Pune-based band Lotus, is best described as a diary written in this language. Anchored by post-rock influenced rhythmic groove and atmospheric guitars, the artists lay bare their own stages of grief, love, acceptance and reminiscence. The tracks in Dear Diary are all written as diary entries, each one representing a slice of life and an overarching emotion through its composition. ‘Don’t Feel a Thing’, for example, starts off with a bittersweet sounding chord progression. The movement between the major to minor chords in this progression evokes the emotional numbness that often follows an overwhelming experience. ’Vision’ features a dramatic groove shift after its intro, emulating the feeling of an uncontrolled fall as a metaphor for anger. It finally concludes with an electronic groove to resolve the chaos.
Lotus’ compositional choices in Dear Diary go further than the traditional styles of rock and post-rock music. This is most evident in their exploration of nostalgia with ‘Take a Day Off’. The band complements ambient sounding guitar layers with electronic Lo-Fi beat samples, a far cry from its earlier distortion-heavy soundscape. The beginning of ‘Move On’ is a medley of guitars with electronic sounds where the unusual sounding chords add a slight dissonance and a sense of unease. With the use of melodic dissonance and waves of electronic texture, Lotus wanted the instrumentation to emulate the kind of melancholy that leads to acceptance of a loss. The album concludes with ‘If Only You Knew’ a crescendo of synths, ambient guitars and electronic drums, a glimpse into the personal journey of the artists and who they are today.
After their debut EP, Emergence, with its outburst of chaos and intensity marked by heavy distortion and shifting chord progressions and layers, Dear Diary journals the evolution in Lotus’ sound as they become a four-piece Band. Original bassist Robert Alex and guitarist Siddharth Amarnath are joined by Collin Francis on Vocals and Abhishek Mujumdar on Drums. ‘For us as musicians, the instrumentation, the lyrics, choosing the harmonies, melodies and layers, they’re all a collection of thoughts given a sound, intent and character — a form of journaling. Similar to how one would author a book, or paint on canvas. For creators, their body of work is the journal. We wanted to pour everything we’re experiencing as individuals, as well as a unit, into this album. Be it our individual experiences though life, adulthood, love, the feeling of loss of a loved one, emotional attachments (and detachments) with friends and family. Dear Diary is us finding closure and understanding with these aspects of our lives,’ says Siddharth.
Equal parts concept and fusion, Dear Diary, above all, is a piercing expression of vulnerability and emotions from a band that refuses to let itself be defined by the confines of any particular genre.
Text Platform Desk
Date 07-02-2022