Before Lotus Crush live sang, or played a note of music, at a recent show at Molly Malones, they debuted a new accompanying video for their first single, "Hearts and Minds," off their upcoming sophomore album, "Rabbit Hole." After the video finished, the band took to the stage to play the song of the same moniker.

From there, the band performed seven more songs from "Rabbit Hole" which seemed as well received as "Hearts And Minds." The attentive, mixed ages audience was supportive and enthusiastic from the beginning of the show until the end. Scottish frontman/lead singer Terry McDermott (runner-up of The Voice/Season 3, Driveblind) was the dynamic focal point and a charismatic presence in motion consistently engaging with the crowd leaving the stage periodically to get closer to the band's attentive base on the floor.

With his shag haircut, scarf casually draped around his neck and wearing a t-shirt with a pattern of cassettes on it, McDermott demonstrated he had a funky flair for visual style, too. However, from a more objective and critical perspective, the songs seemed repetitive and middle-of-the road. Singing the same chorus over and over dilutes already lackluster material that sounds like half-finished ideas that aren’t gelling cohesively and holding together well as concepts. Lotus Crush may need to scrap songs in the future that don't work in the initial writing phase or in the recording studio. The band seemed stuck in a formula that was boring as it was predictable.

Only three songs broke the cycle from time to time tackling what seemed like lyrics about life's bigger questions on a poignant and philosophical plane with grace and majesty such as "Heaven's Hell, "Blood On The Water" and "On and On."

The rest of band featuring guitarist Peter Klett (Candlebox) and drummer Scott Mercado (Candlebox) and Island Styles (guitarist of Jimmy’s Chicken Shack) were strong players and held their own. But they seemed to compete musically and sonically with McDermott for prominence. Shifting the dynamics would have gone a long way. Even having a few band members introduced during the course of the show would changed the pace. Then, from that point on, some of the musicians could have been individually showcased for solos and then brought back to the stage one by one to build the momentum slowly to create more excitement organically.

-Harriet Kaplan

#terrymcdermott #peterklett #scottmercado #candlebox #islandstyles