Hospitality – Trouble

Trouble it is....
Hospitality : Trouble
7.4 Merge
2014 

Hospitality : Trouble

Two years ago Brooklyn’s Hospitality made a nice full-length debut in Hospitality (QRO review), a charming record that still struggled to stand out.  Now comes Trouble, and while they’ve followed the current indie trend of adding in keyboards, and there are some choice moments, the struggle to stand out continues.

While Hospitality was largely catch or strum, there is more variety on Trouble.  “Going Out” is chill and cool, while the preceding opener “Nightingale” has stop-start rock with vocals from singer/guitarist Amber Papini reminiscent of Metric’s Emily Haines (QRO live review).  The key tones to “Rockets and Jets” aren’t memorable, but are on “Last Words”, a great piece, including nighttime eighties guitar solo, that is slightly undercut by being too long at six-and-a-half minutes.

Trouble lacks some of the catch of Hospitality, and the slow, sad songs (like final two “Sunship” and “Call Me After”) again aren’t heart wrenching.  But Hospitality are still welcome, even as they stop-start into something more.

Hospitality – Last Words

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