+ JANUARY 2023 PART II

Points of View

I Don't Feel

Available to stream / download now: https://fulltimehobby.ffm.to/pbemore

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Pale Blue Eyes - More

Taken from the new M83 album Fantasy, out March 17 http://m83.it/fantasySo

Fantasy

Oceans Niagara

No Fun

I Don't Know What You See In Me

Sydney indie rock three-piece Crystal Cities are back, this time with the title track and second single from their forthcoming 3rd LP, I Should Have Known That This Was War. The song reveals a more experimental approach to the band’s songwriting this time around, both in terms of instrumentation and arrangement. Geoff Rana’s first lyrics echo this sentiment of change also, “Hold my cigarette, yeah, I think I need a break from the same old song and dance”.

The synth pads underlying the track create a spacey, cosmic bed which instantly take the listener somewhere they’ve never been whilst listening to a Crystal Cities track. Rana delivers the verse vocals with swagger before the song opens up into a spacious and uplifting chorus. The track then takes a Bowie-esque turn, relaxing into an almost free-time bridge where a haunting theremin-sounding synth provides most of the harmonic support. 

"It is a song about the polarising experience of life; when the universe and all the things that encompass it seem to coalesce in such a way that life appears to be your ally, but then quickly turns and appears to become your enemy; when life seems to gracefully surrender to your will, but then in an instant throws everything it has at you. It’s about the unexpected wins and losses that life can deliver at any given moment. The song takes some unexpected twists and turns to reflect this sentiment."
⁣- Geoff Rana (vocals/guitar/keys)

Lead vocalist and guitarist/keyboardist Geoff Rana has been spending days on end in his self-made studio where he’s been writing, producing and engineering the band’s latest material.

While the band’s previous effort - their sophomore album Hold Me Close Hold Me Tight - was an exercise in hard-hitting alternative rock that could rattle a live audience, the band’s third LP, I Should Have Known That This Was War, feels more explorative and colourful (at least from the two singles released from the band thus far, the first being “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”). 

This new single happens to be the last Crystal Cities song previous drummer Daniel Conte performs on, with new drummer Neel Shukla taking over the drumming duties for the remainder of the tracks on the upcoming album.

Long-time Crystal Cities collaborator Paul Lani (David Bowie, Prince) was once again tapped to handle mixing and mastering duties for the recording.

SInce the band’s formation in 2016 they have released a highly praised EP - Who’s Gonna Save Us Now (2017) - and two critically acclaimed albums - Under The Cold Light of the Moon (2019) and Hold Me Close Hold Me Tight (2021). There is no scheduled release date for the band’s forthcoming third album. 

The band consists of Geoff Rana (lead vocals, guitar, keys), Jared King (Bass, backing vocals), and newest member, Neel Shukla (Drums).

I Should Have Known That This Was War

The Singles - Volume 01

The Modern Age (Rough Trade Version)

All Her Plans

Change

Zoetrope (Radio Edit)

DONZII - Disco Rosie

Feel the Colors

Feel the Colors (feat. Andrea Perillo & James Schiavone)

Cover Your Eyes

Written, produced and mixed by Twin Rains
Greg Smith played drums, recorded at Dining Room Sound
Jessica Deutsch played violin, recorded by Tyler Emond
Mastered by Brock McFarlane

Laws of the Universe

“Late Checkouts” is an energetic indie rock track about the moment when you hold on to something for too long—places, people, thoughts—and realize it's time to let go. With driving guitars, a catchy chorus, and raw honesty, the song perfectly captures that bittersweet feeling: loud, lively, and full of resonance. Ideal for fans of rousing, emotional indie anthems.

Late Checkouts

Once contenders for the mantle of Britain’s most self-conscious band — guilty, by their own admission, of pandering to audiences’ tastes following their move from Pompey to London — Hotel Lux have crafted an identity that is truly their own on bold debut album ‘Hands Across The Creek’.
 
But in 2020, the roots of Hotel Lux’s transformation were soon in place. The band’s classic influences — Dr Feelgood, The Stranglers, Ian Dury — meshed with the sounds of artists like Neil Young, Brian Eno and The Waterboys, and, in the end, Hotel Lux found themselves “doing the whole ‘haha, that’s what the fourth album will sound like’ thing” on their first, says Cam.
 
They decamped to The Wirral, with Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral; Arctic Monkeys) as multi-faceted influences, £20 Casio keyboards and marauding song structures fell into place. Lead single ‘Common Sense’ was influenced by ‘80s group the Beautiful South and inspired by the RMT strikes, trade union leader Mick Lynch, and the media’s treatment of Jeremy Corbyn. It’s a rhythmic anthem full of funk bass, machine gun snares and clattering guitars reminiscent of Television or Glasgow icons Orange Juice. It's the band’s most euphoric and danceable single to date.
 
With ‘Hands Across The Creek’ set for release in early 2023, Hotel Lux look set to become something their early critics might have not foreseen: a band full of confidence, with the ability to transcend their peers and carve out their own corner of British music tapestry.

Points of View

Hotel Lux

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