HOTELS
Where Hearts Go Broke
(Hidden Shoal Recordings)
One thing’s for sure: Perth-based independent label Hidden Shoal Recordings are guaranteed to offer you something different. Dubbed one of Textura magazine’s favourite labels of 2007, they specialise in artists that fall somewhere between the cracks of indie, ambient and experimental. One of these new talents is Hotels, a band born in Seattle in 2003. Hotels mix jangly dream pop and late-night shoegaze with countless other elements. Think droning post-rock guitars, combined with sci-fi soundtrack synthesisers and pounding drum beats. Where Hearts Go Broke is a dense and complex record that manages to boast plenty of hooks while retaining the typical vagueness of ambient music. Like a less depressing Joy Division, it often sounds kind of like 80s pop for extraterrestrials.
‘Leilana’ mixes cosmic synths with a fast-paced dance beat and an unexpected acoustic guitar in the instrumental break. ‘The Maudlin’ is a sort of sci-fi punk rock song where guitar licks and synths combine. ‘On The Casino Floor’ is, like the title suggests, a swirling instrumental interlude of cheerful high-pitched bleeps and fuzzy electronic noise. ‘Hotel Martinique’, one of the album’s best tracks, is a slow-burner with skittering drums that rises to a glorious, otherwordly finale. Closing track ‘Flight Of The Navigator’ is an ethereal pop song with sparkling xylophone that’s nowhere near as cheesy as the name suggests. When the record’s over, it’s a little difficult to remember individual tracks. Vocalist / bassist Blake Madden, despite being an interesting lyricist, keeps his vocal stylings very simple – there’s little here in the way of extravagant flourishes. But the point of this style of music is to convey a mood or emotion, and Hotels certainly succeed in doing that. No classic, but there are worse things to listen to in your spaceship.
HHH½    Daniel Wynne