Lotic – Water

On 2018’s Power, Lotic used throbbing club sounds, celestial operatic elements and raw electronics to convey the instability and personal upheaval happening within her life. The constant fight between authoritarian power structures and Black trans lives was cleverly represented within conflicting sounds and shots of noise.

Three years later, Water elegantly combines many of the same influences to tell a weightier story of intergenerational pain, and how this often lines up with personal grief. J’Kerian Morgan connects the dots with her voice. Her sharp falsetto is more present in the mix than ever before, and that emergence mirrors the growing distinctiveness she has as an artist. Her voice is at times limited, with melodies in the second half of the record becoming indistinct. But when it works, Lotic is at the height of her powers.

Emergency is brash and beautiful in a way that’s rare, its searing synth lines and clattering percussion leaving space for her gasping and pensive vocal. Even on the alarming double time of Always You, there’s room for gentle harp passages and whisper-quiet melodies. The fluidity and confidence of the record makes it feel like the arrival of Lotic in her true form.

Listen to: Emergency, Always You