southern records

Lotus Plaza is the latest solo project to emerge from the ranks of Deerhunter this time helmed by guitarist Lockett Pundt. Having made material available to download through Deerhunters blog for some time now, Pundt now finally lifts the veil from Lotus Plaza with the debut album, The Floodlight Collective, released on Kranky to show one and all just what he can do.

The Floodlight Collective takes cues in equal measure from the melody and rhythm of 60's pop as it does from the swirling shoe-gaze sound pioneered by the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. "Quicksand" has the kind of bouncing big-beat that would not sound out of place on a classic Shangri-La's song, with Pundt's voice sitting low in the mix as just one of the many layers of sound and tone. "There Years" shows Lotus Plaza at their most understated, with waves of echoing vocal harmonies washing over a gentle undulating soundscape and becoming entwined in one another. The 60's backbeat put aside on "Sunday Night", in favour of other-worldly drum loops and samples, draws a parallel with scene contemporaries Animal Collective.

Every song on the album is a densely layered collage of sounds where it is hard to tell where one part stops and another begins. With the help of Brain Foote from Nudge assisting on production, Pundt has assembled a detailed collection of songs for the listener to become immersed in. Deerhunter bandmate Bradford Cox joins Pundt for the souring "Different Mirrors", and while Lotus Plaza has echoes of Pundt's 'day job' Deerhunter about it, he makes it more than clear just what a large part he is of that band, and more to the point, that he has a voice and sound of his own.