The past 2 years have been pretty rewarding for the members of Deerhunter, and 2009 looks to be no different. But where Bradford Cox has been the band’s de-facto star (and lightning rod) thus far, in the coming months you should expect to hear a lot about guitarist Lockett Pundt. Pundt’s vocals deceptively opened last year’s Microcastle, as he took lead on “Agoraphobia”, a bold move for a band so clearly linked to the persona of its usual front man. The move worked though, as Pundt’s melodic, repetitive phrasings sounded nearly identical to what Deerhunter fans were used to, and jump started an album that many considered among the year‘s best.
Pundt’s solo project, Lotus Plaza, will be releasing The Floodlight Collective through Kranky Records in March. Frequenters of the Deerhunter blog might be familiar with a handful of posted demos from over the past few years, but The Floodlight Collective is the official debut full length from Pundt. Its 10 songs expand on Deerhunter’s lush, shoegazing tendencies and deliver a knockout of an atmospheric listening experience - every bit as shimmering and innocent as the album art suggests. The songs are full of opaque pop melodies that hardly ever emerge from the densely layered array of sounds. Instead, the vocals float beautifully in the trance-inducing mix, just one part of a greater whole. What The Floodlight Collective does make very clear is that Lotus Plaza is not some side project waiting to be ignored, but rather the introduction of a dynamic talent to the indie-rock community.
As of today Kranky has not released a free mp3 from The Floodlight Collective, so here’s a song that was released on the band’s blog early last year. “Dot Gain” sounds a bit more primitive than most of the newer songs, but it’s a fairly decent representation of where the band is coming from, sonically. It’s pretty clear Lotus Plaza and Deerhunter are first cousins, no?
MP3 :: Dot Gain
(from the Deerhunter blog)
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