by Noah Cain
As was the case with their first performance this March, opening for Tinge at the Handsome Daughter, there is a confidence to Bush Lotus’s writing and sound that feels at odds with their experience.
Lyrically, “Open” is spare, but far from simple. When written out, it functions almost seamlessly as a series of linked Haiku. True to that form, songwriter Arielle Beaupre injects meaning and poignancy into a sliver of time. In this case, a moment of intense presence while stretching in a parking lot, presumably after hours in a car moving along tree-lined highways:
“I stretched my arms wide
As though my fingertips would
Reach the ends of the sky
/
It didn’t matter
My feet were on the edge
Of a concrete parking lot”
If you answer the invitation into the moment, you may feel, as I did, your breath deepen and thoughts quiet and awareness descend toward your belly as the spare, evocative lines repeat and the guitar lulls you rhythmically and the distant synths float above and behind Beaupre’s beautiful, clear voice like clouds.
“Open” is the lead single from Floating Kitestrings set to be released this Summer. Bush Lotus will be playing a solo set on April 5, opening for Wares, at The Handsome Daughter on April 7.