Part of our interview with Los Angeles-based musician, Rania Woodard, of the band LANNDS (Run For Cover Records). LANNDS album, Lotus Deluxe on 'lotus' designed vinyl, or pink, is out now! Purchase links below.
Jacksonville, FL,, and now, Los Angeles based Rania Woodard and Brian Squllace, make up the duo, LANNDS, and have crafted a truly sweeping and beautifully majestic album that flows effortlessly from track to track. Encompassing five original tracks from the duo's LOTUS EP and three new singles makes the combination of their debut on Run For Cover. a home run. LOTUS DELUXE takes the listener, lyrically and sonically, deep into a World where Summer is just around the corner, and getting high on good energy, is something to aspire to every day.
LOTUS DELUXE simply floats and sways; over layers of electronic beats, nature-based sounds, talking, and pre-recorded samples, while also bridging their live instrumentation, dreamy vocals, and the duo's own vibe of psychedelia-laced, light-touch, pop stylings.
An excerpt from our interview with LANNDS' Rania Woodard:
What are you listening to right now?
RANIA: I love to spin records often and I always listen to Anita Baker’s Rapture, The Best of Sade, and Marvin Gaye’s Hear My Dear. Also at any given moment Blonde (Frank Ocean) is the soundtrack of my life so that’s always playing whenever I want to feel something deeply. I cry to it often. "White Ferrari" is one of the best songs ever written, not an unpopular opinion.
Records that I’m currently listening to:
BIG THIEF, "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You," RUNNNER, "Always Repeating," BJÖRK, "Vespertine," MINI TREES, "Always In Motion," BARRIE, "Barbara," COCTEAU TWINS, "Treasure," CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS, "La vita nuova."
Tell us about getting signed to Run For Cover Records for the reissue and expansion release of your Lotus EP as a deluxe album. Do you have any favorites among the additions to the EP?
Getting signed to RUN FOR COVER has been such an amazing opportunity, first off. Tom and Jeff are both gems and it’s been an honor getting to work with people who believe in what you do, just as much as you do, sometimes, needing that reassurance, even.
I felt hesitant at first to make the move with RFC because of how different my band was versus everyone else on the label. I initially felt a little bit insecure about the decision, but after talking with Tom, he really made us feel right at home and was so down to earth. To me, that was the most important thing.
A few favorites of mine from Lotus Deluxe are "o brother" and "HITEM." I was writing "o brother" during a very dark time in my life. It was a couple months into the pandemic, and I was dealing with a challenging dynamic between my family, and also, learning how to implement boundaries for once in my life. Having to navigate those feelings with people that you love can be a very 'guilting' feeling when you’ve never done it, and I was dealing with it all during this time in my life. Every time I listen, it takes me back to that place and where I was, and I’m always reminded that life is a continuous cycle and things do get better.
"HITEM" is one of my other favorites because I started the demo a year after we released lotus and during a time that I wanted to work on something that felt refreshing. The chord progression feels so nostalgic to me, and in return, the song is about that as well. It is just the song I would put on when I want to feel a certain way and get in my feels, which is why I like it a lot.
How does the collaboration with Brian work when you are creating new tracks?
Brian and I don’t really have a set way of working together. I will usually start something, and depending on how far I get with the production of it, I’ll send it to him to get some pointers. If it feels right, I’ll just bring it to our next session and see how much progress we can get done with it, it just depends. When we do work together, we’ll try and find a mood that feels good, and go from there. That (usually) is just some chords or a bunch of textured sounds on a loop. I’ll start some melodies and mess around with some words or phrases while he’s working on a chord progression. From there, I’ll jump in and add something as I feel it. This process is how we wrote a big chunk of our LP (unreleased). We started from a feeling, and went from there, and I think this is how we work best together. We like to say that we’re musical soulmates.
Purchase Lotus Deluxe by LANNDS: https://modernsoulrecordsco.com/products/lannds-lotus-deluxe-clear-purple-cream-swirl-lp-2022
Order CONNECT-ING TO THE BEAT 'zine to read the rest of this interview:
Visit and Follow LANNDS online:
https://lannds.bandcamp.com | https://lannds.us