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Happy birthday, Joseph Nicholas Yozviak!

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Liz Weston: How to profit from someone else’s financial mistake

<p>Despite being on a tour bus somewhere in the heartland of America in support of an album that&#8217;s been getting glowing reviews in national publications, Kylie Lotz seems to be taking the whole thing in stride.</p><p>The 27-year-old Scrantonian released her second album under the name Petal in June.</p><p>Called &#8220;Magic Gone,&#8221; the record has been getting well-deserved praise from outlets like <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-petals-magic-gone-rings-out-clear-and-true-666070/" target="_blank">Rolling Stone</a>, where reviewer Maura Johnston gave the record four out of five stars and gave high praise to Lotz&#8217;s voice &#8212; &#8220;Kylie Lotz has a voice like a bell,&#8221; Johnston wrote.</p><p>And while Lotz said she is proud of reviews like Johnston&#8217;s, she said, for her, the more exciting part of her work is the energy she&#8217;s been receiving at shows.</p><p>(She told this to a Times Leader reporter during a phone call with occasionally spotty cell service as she was traveling to one of those very shows.)</p><p>&#8220;It feels really trivial and exciting,&#8221; Lotz said of her seemingly conflicting feelings regarding the praise she&#8217;s receiving. &#8220;I try not to linger too long on that stuff. It felt really good, but I give myself x amount of time to feel excited, then be focused on the shows.&#8221;</p><p>Marking the second record under her Petal moniker, &#8220;Magic Gone&#8221; sees Lotz drawing from a variety of influences. While her music is obviously inspired by some of the current sounds in punk, indie rock and emo revival, Lotz cited a smattering of other influences. Specifically, she pointed out artists like Queen, Janis Joplin and Nina Simone.</p><p>&#8220;Listening to those records, it doesn&#8217;t sound like they have anything in common,&#8221; Lotz acknowledged. &#8220;But they all have the drums higher up in the mix, which makes it super roomy, and the vocals are up in the mix too.&#8221;</p><p>Lotz said she tried to match this sound in the production on &#8220;Magic Gone,&#8221; saying it made for a more &#8220;raw&#8221; sound than on her previous record, &#8220;Shame.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We wanted the drums and vocals to be more forward, with natural reverb,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It makes this record different; we wanted to let the room do some of the engineering.&#8221;</p><p>This production choice is immediately apparent to the listener, especially on tracks like &#8220;Comfort.&#8221; Lotz&#8217;s voice reverberates as if she&#8217;s recording in a cavernous space. It makes for a somber sound, giving the songs a quality of having been recorded during a live performance.</p><p>Lotz&#8217;s airy voice grows more ethereal with raw production quality, creating the effect of either the listener being in the same room as her, or of her being entirely alone &#8212; themes which are both touched on lyrically in the record.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about change and coming to adulthood and trying to learn to love yourself and trust people around you,&#8221; Lotz said of the new record. &#8220;It&#8217;s about coming to terms with accountability for your own well-being.&#8221;</p><p>Lotz said the record &#8220;sonically embodies&#8221; that progress, starting with the jittering energy of the raucous opening track, &#8220;Better Than You,&#8221; and slowly growing more somber and introspective as it progresses.</p><p>&#8220;(The record) doesn&#8217;t propose answers, but shares my experiences,&#8221; she said. &#8220;If that&#8217;s helpful to hear, that&#8217;s awesome.&#8221;</p><p>And if what she says about the turnout to her shows is true, Lotz has been able to strike a chord in the hearts of listeners nationwide.</p><p>Petal is currently on a national tour, playing shows around the country with Camp Cope, Oceanator and Sidney Gish. According to Lotz, it&#8217;s been interesting to see how her shows have changed over time.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s more of a mixed bag of people. There are people of all ages, all walks of life, when it used to mostly just be younger folks,&#8221; she said. &#8220;At the last show, there was a couple in their 60s, and they got T-shirts and everything. I think that&#8217;s really great.&#8221;</p><p>Lotz said she loves the sense of community that grows around her music at shows.</p><p>&#8220;I like the idea of people coming to hang out for a couple of hours with people they might not interact with otherwise,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The U.S. tour for Petal will end later this month, with the final show being played July 22 at The Other Side in Wilkes-Barre. Lotz said she&#8217;s looking forward to coming back to the scene where she got started.</p><p>&#8220;I grew up making music and writing music in Scranton and playing shows in Wilkes-Barre,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t have the opportunity to be doing what I&#8217;m doing if I didn&#8217;t grow up where I did.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kylie Lotz said her latest album under the moniker Petal is &#8216;about change and coming to adulthood and trying to learn to love yourself and trust people around you.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_Petal.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kylie Lotz said her latest album under the moniker Petal is &#8216;about change and coming to adulthood and trying to learn to love yourself and trust people around you.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Courtesy of Katie Krulock via Shore Fire Media </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1__images_uploads_gallery_Image_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kylie Lotz, who writes and performs under the name Petal, released her second album, &#8220;Magic Gone,&#8221; on June 15. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1__images_uploads_gallery_Image_1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kylie Lotz, who writes and performs under the name Petal, released her second album, &#8220;Magic Gone,&#8221; on June 15. </caption1><photoCredit1>Courtesy of Katie Krulock via Shore Fire Media </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Kylie Lotz humble in light of positive reviews</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Kylie Lotz stays humble in light of glowing reviews of new Petal music