There’s something delightful about stumbling across a track from a band you don’t know, a happy accident of algorithmic fate. And so it was in the midst of the early months of the pandemic when I was shielding from my family and all I had to keep me company was the online world. I listened to a lot of music that I might never have come across in those months, mostly via Bandcamp’s radio function (which back then was, permit me to say, a heck of lot better than it appears to be now).
One of the songs that sprang out of the Bluetooth speaker I had paired with my laptop was this one. A single from a Seattle band I’d never heard of, who describe themselves as Betty Davis collaborating with Joy Division on a James Bond soundtrack. A single that was indie R&B, that had a swing to it yet felt like a classic guitar band.
Doing some digging, it seems this is exactly what they were, prior to a drastic switch (or pivot, as the parlance goes) sometime around the 2018 mark. They were a typical indie band. And there’s nothing wrong with that. However, once the vocal talents of Adra Boo were brought into the mix and put front and centre, they took on a entirely new vibe of which this single is the first example.
I’m reminded of Baby Charles, who were primarily funk and soul but brought in the indie sound through cover songs (like the Arctic Monkeys classic on their one and only album from 2008).
The band really changed for the better, I think, with the inclusion of Adra’s vocal talents. As you can see in this clip from the online show, Bands In Seattle, where she trades vocals with bass player Blake Madden.
Their song, Sides, has a more sultry ambiance than the more post-punk vibe of the video. It sidles up to you from its funk bass groove, hot breath on your neck. A slow burn of a song, but all the better for how it allows Adra to build up to her vocal climax. I particularly enjoyed the noir synths bringing a Portishead feel. Everything is pared back, doing exactly what’s needed in order to build up a ‘sensation’ that’s thrilling to hear.
And then the chorus changes things, with its tinkling of major chord brightness. An unexpected twist in what felt like a foregone conclusion. Without it, though, there would be no way to set up the middle eight, which leans heavily into an 80’s pop sound before finding its way back into the musical haunting that started it all via vocal acrobatics imbued with the grit and fortitude of someone who has seen things we can only wonder at.
It’s as perfect as a single can be. A spectacle for your ears. One that’s ripe for a vinyl release, perhaps. Listen via the embed from Hotels’ Bandcamp page.