Lotus Crown
Chokin' On The Jokes
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Lotus Crown
Chokin' On The Jokes
Reprise, 1997
RiYL: The Verve's A Northern Soul, Suede's Coming Up, Flaming Lips' In A Priest Driven Ambulance |
Although Shields bases the music on his past work in Rollerskate Skinny (brother Kevin is the musical genius behind My Bloody Valentine), it's not rock for which he's striving. A Dublin native now living in Chicago, Shields assembled Lotus Crown just in time to tour with Mercury Lips and Flaming Lips and to release 1995's Alvar Aalto. Wisps of both groups can be heard on Chokin' but only after being funneled through breezy Anglophile filters.
"Swallow The Bee" blends the bounce of the In A Priest Driven Ambulance-era Flaming Lips with the cathartic choruses of Suede's last record. While the confident, fuzzy swirl of "Blue Arse Fly" sounds like My Bloody Valentine drifting on a caffeine buzz. "Won't Give Up" is a soothing, psychedelic instrumental of the highest order.
As on Rollerskate Skinny's Shoulder Voices, the music here is engaging and broadly realized. When Lotus Crown borrows inspiration, it does it from the best. If the Beatles existed today, the swaggering ballad "Shuttle Weary" could probably be their hit single. Likewise, the firm, right-on "No Title" wouldn't sound out of place on a Verve album.
Though some of the songs on Chokin' overstay their welcome, such as "Riddle Me Sober" and "Circus, Circus," Lotus Crown has broadened the typical vision of shoegazer music with intelligible lyrics, expertly utilized effects and compelling songwriting. A fine effort.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"