Luke and Jesse Miller lean into their electronic side on their ensemble’s first LP with new guitarist Tim Palmieri, Bloom & Recede.

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Closer to Traditional Dance Music

JESSE MILLER: The origins of Bloom & Recede go back to a special set we did at our Summerdance festival in 2019. [My brother] Luke has a DJ project, Luke The Knife, and I have Beard of Bees, which is my modular-focused solo set. The idea for the set was to take some of what we do in those realms, which is a little bit more club-oriented, and bring it into the Lotus world. It wasn’t something we announced before—it was a little shocking to people. But we got really good feedback, and it was really fun and something different. So, over the last couple of years, I’ve started to integrate those ideas into our normal Lotus set, figuring out ways to access the modular synth onstage in order to get into these improvisational spaces that are closer to traditional dance music—as far as using synths and loops.

When we started writing this record, a couple of the ideas that we had been working on for that set became the initial seeds we used to write around, with the synth sound at the center of it. What ended up emerging has this ‘90s electronic influence, as well as some of our really early classical minimalist influences—we were interested in how these house and techno elements can really build up to this more trancey and epic feeling. So that was the foundation for this record.

LUKE MILLER: During that Summerdance set, we played a mix of reworked Lotus songs, covers and some improvisations. And, during the pandemic, Jesse and I started sending these ideas that were more based around modular synth loops back and forth. I would write on the computer or synth, send what I came up with to Jesse and he would run it through the modular. And we started picking out the compositions from there.

The pandemic made us work in a different way; the studios were still reluctant to have a big group of people in there together. So, we ended up just doing it separately. But, I feel like the results still really gel together and sound focused. Learning to Coast and Glide

TIM PALMIERI: [My first professional band] Psychedelic Breakfast and Lotus started playing shows together around 2003 or so. We would see them at different festivals, before [drummer Mike Greenfield] was even in the band. And, around 2014, [my other group] Kung Fu ended up doing two or three weeks with Lotus, and I sat in with them a few times over the course of that tour. When [guitarist] Mike Rempel wanted to leave, they asked me if I wanted to audition. [In a statement released in 2021, co-founding member Rempel explained: “While the pandemic was a challenging upheaval for so many people, for me, it opened the door to new possibilities and a quieter lifestyle that I had been longing for. My nervous system enjoyed a much-needed break. It also afforded me the opportunity to start building a new career for myself in the areas of mindfulness, authentic relating work, and human growth and development.”]

They mailed some tracks out to multiple guitarists. We had to learn the parts, rerecord them and send them back. So that was the start. I eventually auditioned for them in person— we set up a date at their studio/ rehearsal space in Philly and played about 10 songs. I had them memorized, and they were like, “Are you ready to make Lotus a priority?” And then, I was in.

LM: It’s tough. We’ve all made a career out of this, and we’ve been doing it for a long time. So to switch a major piece like that is not easy. But, Tim was one of the early people that we thought of—he’s fantastic. He brings a really good energy. He’s excited to learn our style of improvisation and delve more into some of these electronic styles. He already had the fireworks and now he’s learning to coast and glide on top of the music. When we did Red Rocks in April, it was a cold night. He had never played at Red Rocks before, and I could see him just looking up at the crowd and really feeling it. It was maybe my 15th or 16th time playing there. It’s always a highlight, but not quite the same as doing it for the first time.

Beyond Mike leaving, we had several changes in our road crew. During the pandemic, they were just reevaluating what they wanted to do. But, for me, having that break just reaffirmed my love for performing live. I don’t like being out on the road for months and months, but I love those moments when we connect with the crowd. We did one drive-in show, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I want that crowd interaction—to be able to feel that we’re moving people, that community element.

JM: We’ve known Tim for a long time. Most people familiar with East Coast jambands have seen Tim play over the years with his many different groups. When we started discussing who to go for, he was one of the first people we thought of. We did check in with some other players, though—one of my concerns was that too many people already knew Tim and had preconceived notions about what he would bring. But when we got together for some rehearsals, they went really well.

Our other concern with Tim was that he comes from more of a rock background, without much of a dance or electronic vocabulary. But we played through a bunch of this stuff and quickly found that he was able to fit into that context, too. So, musically, it clicked, and he just had a good energy. You don’t have to be best friends with all your bandmates—and sometimes it’s better if you aren’t—but you have to spend a lot of time with them and only a portion of that is onstage. He seemed like someone we could get along with. Lotus 3.0

LM: Jesse and I started building Bloom & Recede remotely. We had thorough demos going. We recorded most of the synths at Jesse’s home studio, using demo drums. And we got Greenfield into the studio to lay down his drums to replace those. Then, we had a separate day with Chuck [Morris] doing percussion. The final piece was getting Tim to do the guitar parts on top of everything, and that’s when it really locked in because he was adding those guitar solos and guitar melodies.

JM: Bloom & Recede was made a little differently than our last couple of records, which we wrote, rehearsed and cut live with the whole band on the studio floor in a more traditional ‘70s style. This one was a little more piece by piece. We actually had a lot of the material written even before we knew Tim was gonna be our new guitar player. So the melodies aren’t necessarily written specifically for him, but we definitely left room for some guitar improvisations. It’s not a super guitar-forward album but there is plenty of tasteful guitar on this record. We like people to hear the studio versions of our new songs before we do the live versions. So we’ve slowly been working the singles into our sets as they have been coming out. Both of our first singles, “Pluck” and “Time Dilates,” are more psychedelic-rock than most of the record so they are perfect for Tim.

TP: Luke and Jesse are the masterminds and I’m happy to play the notes that they conjure up. I’m a fan of notes. [Laughs.] Sonically, they have a vision. So, as long as they tell me what they want, I’m willing to do it and we worked quickly. We probably banged out 10 tunes in a single day. It was the first time that I had used this new minimalist discipline in the studio—it was challenging and exciting.

We haven’t discussed [if I will write for the band] recently. When I joined, I asked them if they were into collaborating on ideas, and they were. So, I do want to collaborate with them. And I certainly want to add to the new energy of Lotus 3.0.

Into the Fire

LM: Mike decided to leave Lotus during the pandemic. We could sense it coming. It seemed like, during the last few years, he wasn’t bringing a positive energy to stuff. In the long run, it’s going to be good, but change is always hard. But, we had to keep everything rolling. Like everybody during the pandemic, we took a financial hit. So, once things started opening up, we weren’t able to take a year off to prepare with a new person—we would all be homeless. [Laughs.] It felt like we were building the airplane as we were flying it in some ways. But we tried to make the transition as smooth as possible. We had some rehearsals, did the last shows with Mike and then did our first shows with Tim a week later. It was just right into the fire.

We had already recorded all of the album except for Tim’s parts, so we did the first two shows with him, and then, a week after that, we brought him into the studio. We didn’t want to sit on this album for another year. We had already written and recorded it, so those songs, to us, were already 18 months old.

TP: Jesse is very organized. He put together a spreadsheet of all of the songs that are currently in the repertoire—about 120 songs—and I started with the most popular ones. They helped clue me into which ones they played most often. We would rehearse once a month—two days in a row—and I would get through 15-20 tunes. I would transcribe the songs, we’d run them down, make some notes, and, a month later, we would do another chunk. I’m up to around 90 right now and I still want to finish the rest. They probably have about 200 songs in total in their repertoire, and I’ve got some new ones to learn for Summerdance. I also hope to, eventually, even play some of the songs that Mike co-wrote for the band.

As we got closer to our first show, I said, “Now, I have to really internalize this stuff.” I also worked on my pedal board. I needed certain delays and a specific rig in order to get the Lotus sound. So that was a process in itself—I was investigating Mike Rempel’s pedal board and tricks. And the whole time, Mike Rempel was nothing but gracious. He did some videos, and we had some good conversations—he helped me out with some parts here and there, and he helped me with their general style and approach. It was important to make this a smooth transition, musically. I want to preserve their legacy—they’ve been together for over 20 years, and their fans take the music seriously—so it’s important that I stay true to their vision.

From when they started to when I joined, the band went through a lot of musical phases. So it was a lot of fun to absorb all their developments and to witness all their genre bending. While all of this was happening, I was listening to their albums in chronological order because I wanted to hear that evolution. And I dug into some of their electronica influences—I even had them make me a few electronic music playlists because I’m a rocker and there’s still a lot I need to learn about this genre.

Passing the Torch

LM: Tim’s style is a lot different than Lotus’ style, but we all knew that he would be able to fit in. He’s got an open mind and the raw skills, and I knew that he could bring that to the Lotus world.

TP: Mike is a super cool dude. I’ve always had a great time with him whenever we’ve played shows together. And it was nice the way that it went because you never know how these things can go when somebody leaves. But he was completely ready to move on. And, because of our relationship, it was a wonderful little torch passing. His advice was to approach the music in a more minimal way. He plays a lot of clean guitar, and he helped me think about the phrases on a micro and macro level. It’s more about the ensemble than the individual—creating a mood and adding to the cake.