Lotus Dog is a rock-tronic music project led by brother and sister song-writing team TSO and Jolie. Lotus Dog's debut release features more than two dozen guest musicians and contributors, from Afghan tabla player / vocalist Tameem to Oakland rappers The Conscious Daughters.
Combined with Jolie's heart-felt vocals and TSO's avant garde production style, this rich assortment of musical elements results in an unusual blend of rock, electronic, and hip-hop flavors. Lotus Dog defies convention with hip-rock-tronic music that tells their story with few rules, and few boundaries. Guitars, drums, electronic loops and effects, and a myriad of exotic and orchestral instruments are utilized - varying in mood from aggressive and driving to melancholy and atmospheric.
But it's the lyrics that most define the intent of Lotus Dog. Each song is an offering of introspection and contemplation for the listener. Not inspirational or spiritual music per se, Lotus Dog is more an experiment in the reflection, integration, and transcendence of spiritual views.
Another important, if somewhat audacious goal of the Lotus Dog project is to convey a depth of philosophical significance without compromising quality and style. In other words, we want to create music that is both deeply meaningful and fun at the same time. Music that takes responsibility for contributing something of value to human consciousness, without being self-righteous. The lotus symbolizes the innate desire for wisdom and wholeness, while the dog symbolizes playfulness, mischief, and unconditional love.
Taken as a whole, much of today's media is a chaos of fragmented motives, beliefs, sensationalism, and cynicism, which seems only to aggravate the compounding crises we face as a planetary civilization. Given this dilemma, the age-old capacity of art to unify human beings on a heart and soul level - above ideology and dogma - becomes vital. Only attempts to contextualize the noise, rather than overpower it, can ultimately spur the predominance of our better nature. This attempt is the essence of Lotus Dog.
Thank you for listening!
