Lauren Scott: Night Lotus: Cinematic Music for Lever Harp
Sunnymill Records

Whereas Lauren Scott's sophomore collection of harp music, Sea of Stars, augmented original compositions by her with treatments of material by Grace Evangeline Mason, Rudiger Opperman, Monika Stadler, Ravel, and J. S. Bach, her EP follow-up, Night Lotus, presents eight pieces wholly authored by Scott herself. That makes for a recording that not only feels more intimate and personal (not that any recording of solo harp music isn't already intimate) but also provides a splendid showcase for her talents as a writer and allows for a clear impression of her style as a composer to crystallize.

As a release that received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and secured second place in the ‘Classical Instrumental (solo / duet / trio)' category in this site's 2025 round-up, a high bar was set by Sea of Stars, but Night Lotus isn't a drop-off and doesn't disappoint. As its subtitle indicates, Scott plays solo lever harp on a set of ‘cinematic' music, pieces, in other words, that are enticingly image-forming. Pointing the listener in particular interpretative directions are titles that call to mind nocturnal settings, winter's onset, and whales singing in the Arctic. Throughout this twenty-eight-minute, pocket-sized sampling, the harpist applies live extended techniques to expand on the instrument's natural sound and give it an orchestral scope.

At the start, tiny glissando effects punctuate plucks, strums, and harmonics to conjure the titular “Night Lotus,” with the dreamlike flutter of the music exerting a potent pull and the harpist dazzling with effortless command; the gentle “Millie & the Dragonfly” accomplishes something similar in its coupling of glissandos and tremolo shudder. “White Grey Blue” opens with her convincing replications of a whale's signature moan before the music proper emerges, its tone lamenting and sad. Speaking of which, “Un Tendre Adieu” perpetuates the melancholy mood with a tender, Satie-like expression. The feeling of loneliness imparted by “The First Snowdrops” suggests someone housebound by the season's arrival and longing to be outdoors.

What precisely is promised by “The Promise” isn't clear, but the music beguiles nonetheless. Over the course of five rhapsodic minutes, dance patterns cascade radiantly until Scott delivers heart-tugging folk melodies alongside entrancing strums and runs. Urgency and drama permeate “Red Kite on the Moors,” on the other hand, and bring a smattering of tension to this largely calming set. The most animated piece comes last in the form of the vibrant and near-ecstatic “Solar Pulse.” As should be clear by now, each of the eight settings engages in a different way.

January 2026