In the summer of 2019, I released my first solo EP which I had painstakingly written, produced, curated, and performed over the past two years. The songs explored the themes of loss, death, rebirth, and growth as I grappled with the pressures of young adulthood and a very painful breakup.
I worked closely with some tremendously talented friends to write, perform, photograph and film every single creative vision I had for the project with the goal of actualizing these ideas fully, without compromise. Danielle Rae provided vocals on the breakout track Angel, which received over 40,000 streams within the first month of release. Chandler Locke and Isabel Rist served as creative co-directors on all of the promotional material, and we worked closely to plan out shoots across various locations in Southern California for each individual track, as well as a merchandise line.
The cover came to me very clearly in a dream, and was shot at the lotus pond in the Kenneth Hahn Recreational Area in south Los Angeles. The photo is actually a few different shots of the pond superimposed, and I achieved the floating effect by placing my back on a small pool floaty and crunching extremely hard to stay horizontal over the water.
Each piece of media proved to be its own adventure. For the Smoke music video, we spent 8 hours burning up in the desert sun just outside of Victorville lighting fire to colored smoke grenades, recreating the Holi effect with chalk, and smashing a perfectly functional guitar. We rented a submersible housing for our camera equipment and took it into the Pacific Ocean at the Santa Monica pier to film the music video for Anything, and for Sweet Dreams, I was in and out of Isabel’s family pool in order to achieve the aesthetic of being a human Lotus.
The concept behind the title for Lotus is extremely relevant to my life. One evening, during meditation, my mother envisioned herself diving into a lotus pond and retrieving a child from the mud. Soon after this, she was gifted her first baby, and to this day swears that she found my soul in that pond.
The lotus flower is held sacred by many people throughout the world. To me it stands as a symbol for rebirth and enlightenment. Once you give it a listen, I hope that it will mean something special to you too.
