My days are all uncovered
They float back through my mind
Recalling the forms of the people you loved
Then leaving the past behind
A lotus eater drifts into myth from Homer’s Odyssey, a figure lost in the fog of indulgence. On their fabled island, the lotus blooms—a fruit laced with lethargy and sweet forgetfulness. To taste it is to abandon ambition, to let life’s demands dissolve like mist. Odysseus’ men, seduced by its softness, sink into stillness, their will to wander sapped, their journey arrested. In its broader breath, the lotus eater has become a symbol of surrender—one who trades toil for tranquility, swapping purpose for pleasure. Detached, adrift, they embody the allure of escape, standing at odds with the grind of reality. The lotus eater myth mirrors today’s culture of instant gratification, where social media and quick pleasures encourage escapism, detachment, and complacency, replacing ambition with fleeting contentment and lowering expectations for deeper fulfillment.
The Horrors resurface with their own Lotus Eater, a kaleidoscopic prelude to their forthcoming album, Night Life. This track shivers with crystalline synth patterns and a dense, atmospheric haze, conjuring echoes of Brian Eno’s innovation, the brooding experiments of Scott Walker’s later years, Deerhunter’s layered intricacies, and Bowie’s reflective brilliance in Blackstar. Refusing the pull of predictable pop, the band unfurls a sound that bends and twists, tethered to emotion yet untethered by convention.
Born from a process of relentless reinvention, Lotus Eater grew darker and more intricate with each iteration. The lyrics, steeped in the reflective lyricism of the Pet Shop Boys and laced with the contemplative musings of Alan Watts, grapple with time’s unyielding progression. Memories dissolve like mist, the past an ephemeral echo in the mind’s winding halls. Loss and renewal entwine, urging a bold step away from nostalgia’s grip and into the promise of what lies ahead.
“Lotus Eater has had several past lives,” said Badwan in an Instagram post. “It was one of the first songs from the Night Life sessions that we felt really excited about – Rhys’s original lyric had a feeling that made me think of 5 Years by David Bowie, and I started to build on the idea. A lotus eater lives in a state of blissful ignorance, and the song to me describes the moment of coming back to reality. We wanted it to have a feeling of both melancholy and euphoria, letting go of the past and starting again. The spoken word section was improvised in the studio, and the mid-section of chopped-up electronics came from Amelia’s world of synth programming. It feels almost like a sister track to Sea Within a Sea in some ways, and it’s one of our favourite songs on the new album.”
This is The Horrors at their boldest, layering abstraction with clarity, drawing listeners into a world where time, memory, and transformation collide. Lotus Eater resonates with the restless beauty of change, a hymn to letting go and embracing the inevitable flux of existence. Listen below – and purge those demons!
Listen below:
Night Life is The Horrors’ first LP since 2017’s V and the 2021 EPs Lout and Against the Blade, marking the first time The Horrors step forward without their original lineup—absent are keyboardist Tom Furse and drummer Joe Spurgeon. In 2021, the Southend stalwarts announced their shift to a four-piece after Furse decided to step away, stating he’s “more of a maker than a performer,” leaving the rigors of touring behind.
Faris Badwan and Rhys Webb began crafting demos in Webb’s North London flat, the foundation of a record later shaped in Los Angeles with Yves Rothman, known for his work with Yves Tumor and Blondshell. Hayward’s guitar scrawled its final strokes back in London, with Kidd contributing from afar.
“The Night Life here is not the vim and vigour of pubs and clubs,” says the band. “It’s the thoughts that happen under the cover of darkness; the places your mind takes you when the rest of the world is asleep.”
The band’s sixth album showcases a refined roster: Faris Badwan’s brooding baritone still leads, with Rhys Webb’s bass rumbling beneath, while Joshua Hayward’s jagged guitar lines slice through. New blood comes from Amelia Kidd’s atmospheric keys and Jordan Cook, formerly of Telegram, on drums. Their sound, now sharper with experience, reflects both maturity and melancholy.
Catch The Horrors live:
- Dec 4 Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, UK
- Dec 5 Room 2, Glasgow, UK
- Dec 12 Bootleg Social, Blackpool, UK
- Dec 13 Strange Brew, Bristol, UK
- Dec 14 Chinnerys, Southend, UK
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