The Lotus Eaters
No Sense Of Sin

The Lotus Eaters: Peter Coyle and Jerry Kelly, vocals and guitar, emerged on the British music scene around the mid-eighties with the album "No Sense Of Sin". Romantic and dreamy, the lotus eaters wrote a series of beautiful songs that captivated listeners of a certain cultured New Wave of the era. The single "The First Picture Of You" was released as a calling card for radios all across Europe, dominated the airwaves, and took the Lotus Eaters to the top of the charts. The LP showcases all the group's potential but also its limitations: Peter Coyle's warm and sensual voice and Jerry Kelly's crystal-clear guitar are indispensable to fill the gaps left by a rather anonymous keyboardist. The band's look was quite sparse: short hair with a very low fade, reminiscent of Saint Francis, white shirts, and black ties, a fashion that stood in opposition to the extravagance of some bands that made appearance the sole reason for their futile existence. A band of "good guys", with romantic and spring-like music that grabbed the attention of critics.

"No Sense Of Sin" opens with "German Girl", with its punchy rhythm and rather carefree atmosphere. It's among the best songs in terms of immediacy and memorability. Various 12-inch versions (remixes) of this track were released for the clubs. "Love Still Flow" is decidedly more baroque and complex; you can imagine a girl chasing butterflies with a net in the fields. The following "Can You Keep A Secret" is rather monotonous with somewhat too light tones, while better is "Out On Your Own", supported by Kelly's guitar and percussion. Former bassist of the Cure, Michael Dempsey, imposes a fast pace on "Put You Touch On Love" and almost catches the listener off guard; it's one of the best songs where the band shows its best, having well absorbed the New Wave style. Keyboards take control in the next track, "Set Me Apart", making a lively song out of a rigid structure and enhancing the subsequent "You Feel Me With Need".

Then comes the masterpiece of the album: "The First Picture Of You" with acoustic guitar played in fingerpicking style and Coyle's voice never more inspired. Several remixes followed the LP version, and even a video was shot for its promotion. Also splendid is "Alone Of All Her Sex", marked by classical guitar played in a virtuous and percussive style, splendidly interwoven with keyboards and drums. Another single extracted from the LP is "You Don't Need Someone New" and its corresponding second video, a track with immediate appeal that hints at the band's occasionally commercial vein. Splendid and introspective, "When You Look At Boys" with its dark electric guitar sound and barely whispered vocals, is perhaps the peak of the two authors' research, with a hammered bass fade-out. "Start Of The Search" closes the original 1984 album version (the CD version indeed has a different track listing) with this simple ballad perfectly in style with the vinyl recording.

"No Sense Of Sin" opened the doors to a group that had a lot to offer in terms of creativity but only partially managed to live up to its expectations. The Lotus Eaters disappeared from the scene just after the release of the single "It Hurts". After long years of waiting, "Silentspace" was released, a pleasant work but clearly inferior to their debut album. The band remained teetering between breaking up and the desire to make a comeback, ending up in the oblivion of the magical and unrepeatable things of the eighties.