Review Summary: The Hotelier show they can consistently evolve and improve. Bright hopes for the future.
Bring up Pop Punk with your average audiophile and their response will likely be something to the effect of “You mean Pop Puke?”. Although the genre has seen a resurgence in recent years, it is still rife with the essence of musical commerce, given that same audiophile probably thought immediately of groups such as A Day To Remember, You Me At Six, All Time Low and Mayday Parade (If they don’t totally suck, maybe even The Wonder Years). If you’d be expecting anything like that from The Hotelier, you’d manage the feat of being on the wrong side of being right.
The Hotelier, self described as anti-pop/anarcho-punk, have been releasing music since mid-2009. As of now, this leaves them with a miniscule but healthy discography of an EP and two LPs. Their first release, EP “We Are All Alone”, was hardly an outstanding debut. However, to those that heard it with a discerning ear would take notice of the light at the end of the bleak effort, leading them to stick around for the outfit’s first LP release in 2011, “It Never Goes Out”.
"It Never Goes Out" leaned heavily towards The Hotelier(at the time, The Hotel Year)’s Pop Punk influences in the heavier hitting guitars and faster tempo, but still relied on many a niche of the Emo scene, particularly the vocal stylings almost signature of the genre. On "Home, Like Noplace Is There", The Hotelier forgo the faster tempos and turn down the distortion a hair for the better part of the album in favor of a considerably more somber experience while maintaining the tinge of energy that keeps the listener from assuming the shape of a ball on their bed and trying to repress emotion.
The record opens with the appropriately titled “An Introduction to the Album”, a slower tune of superb lyrical quality. The track comfortably sets the pace for the record as vocalist Christian Holden writhes through his voice as he wails the lyrics, “Grab ahold. / I know I said to not / but what the *** do I know? / I had a chance to construct something beautiful / and I choked” and eases the listener into the following track "The Scope Of All Of This Rebuilding" as he tells a story of broken hopes. The track interestingly picks the up the tempo and lets loose the Pop Punk energy so defiantly rampant in The Hotelier’s hearts. Skip forward two tracks to "Your Deep Rest", and The Hotelier sternly declares their balance of influence with the poignant track, lyrically detailing confrontation of reality and regret. Further into the album comes the efficient, elegant analogy that is "Housebroken", shortly after bringing the close of the album with "Dendron".
The Hotelier, just as many of their peers, are unfortunately victim of the omnipresent issue of consistency. While the outfit should be praised for their ability to stay true to their sound, it results in some tracks coming off as stale and standing out considerably less than others, creating the illusion that they are filler where they are genuine, acceptable tracks. Too often do groups fall to this shortcoming, and as such it hardly carries the negative connotation it is predisposed to. Otherwise, the record carries very few mistakes or notable issues aside from the occasional Pop Punk cliche (see: choral chant in opening track).
"Home, Like Noplace There Is" has thus far been The Hotelier’s strongest effort put forward and a great step in the right direction, just as "It Never Goes Out" was, prior to "Home" ‘s release. The Hotelier have shown in force that they are constantly learning and evolving, putting forth a greater effort with each release. This raises the question of whether The Hotelier will succesfully top this near-masterpiece in their records to come, or if "Home, Like Noplace There Is" will forever stand as their magnum opus. Either way, keep an eye out for future releases, and if you haven’t already, indulge in this excellent record yourself.
