The Hotelier – Home NoPlace Is There
Review by Trevor Figge
The Hotelier (previously known as The Hotel Year) will be releasing Home NoPlace Is There on Feburary 25th. There has been a fair amount of anticipation amongst fans and amongst the scene prior to its release. They had previously generated a small niche following in the Pop-Punk genre with their prior release It Never Goes Out under their previous name of The Hotel Year. However all of this news is new to me. I would just like to say that last night was the first time I’ve ever heard The Hotelier and what a way to start! At one in the morning, by candle light I saw a friends post about them and decided on a whim to put on my headphones and listen to Home NoPlace Is There. What followed blew me away as “An Introduction To The Album” started I closed my eyes, the Wurlitzer (or what I assume is a Wurlitzer/organ) chimed in and the ever so familiar sample of a vinyl needle greeted me like a warm blanket. I knew that this would be one heck of an album.
“An Introduction…” greets the listener in a calming manner as Christian Holden sings down a key, but you quickly realize that this is not just another depressing Emo album. Home, NoPlace is There is not going to be another album that over saturates the already flooded market. This, this is Emo, I’m sorry to every Brand New fan boy (even myself included), every genre snob and every posi-pop-punk kid that will inevitably label them as Pop-Punk. I’m sorry for how much I’m about to upset you with this review and my by saying, this album is the perfect Emo album.
Holden’s (insert cliché joke about “Catcher and The Rye” here) vocals waver, crack, spatter, and decay throughout the whole album. Line after line leave you questioning when his voice will give out, let alone his heart. Each word is sang with such conviction and emotion that you question what happened to him when he was home?
Home NoPlace Is There covers the broad spectrum of emotions rising and falling at the right times, every song flows into one another seamlessly, no transition leaves you questioning why they ordered the album the way they did, the instrumentation mirrors the raw, emotionally driven, painful lyrics, this album is nearly perfect. I have not a single complaint about it, even the mixing on this album is fantastic, reverbs are carefully implemented as to not overwhelm the vocalist, all the while making you feel as if you were in the room with Holden as he opens his heart up and lays it out on a silver platter for you to pick apart. Seriously there were moments in this album where I could have sworn Holden was in the room across the hall. Working through his emotional turmoil, pacing back and forth, as he pushed his voice over the edge. Holden allowed his voice to crack, and bend with the others instrumentation. I cannot get over how well the vocal delivery and instrumentation is on this album. You can tell on “The Scope Of All This Rebuilding” and “Life In Drag” that there were moments where each word became harder and harder to get out. Then there are beautiful instrumentals like at the end of “Among The Wildflowers”. If you are looking to for an entry to Emo and you don’t care much to listen to the likes of Brand New, Balance and Composure, American Football, or Sunny Day Real Estate. This is the album; don’t even bother listening to the aforementioned this, this is better.
This is emotion, this is music, this is life, love, loss and everything between. If anyone questions me on the fact that this album is the meaning of Emo and that this album bares the aforementioned qualities. Then do me this, listen to “Dendron” and try to not feel a thing. If you can do that, then I personally will call you and apologize for making you listen to this album, this band or just that song.
This is the album of the year. Case Closed, I don’t care what you say or if Blink-182 releases their album, or Brand New, or Real Friends, or if The Wonder Years come out with something better than “The Greatest Generation.” Home, NoPlace Like It is the album of the year.
Overall Rating: 5/5 (ABSOLUTE MUST LISTEN)
Recommended Tracks: “Dendron”, “An Introduction To This Album”, “The Scope Of Rebuilding”
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