Hotel Neon | Vanishing Forms
Archives (LP/CD/DL)
In their follow-up to last year’s Means of Knowing (also on Spanish imprint Archives), is the Philly trio Hotel Neon (Michael Tasselmyer, Andrew Tasselmyer, and Steven Kemner) with their latest effort, Vanishing Forms. Eight new tracks comprise the record that opens with the meditative space-time-continuum of The Time Between. Theirs is a bracing sound that is as icy as it is quite graceful. It has the symphonic hollow of Sigur Rós and all the depth of, say, Ben Frost or Harold Budd. Sunfire churns with slightly gradated drones that gleam momentarily and burn out, and repeat. The listener will be caught in this loop, but it is hardly repetitive, as the players sonically alter the form of their cycle each generation, making the overall energy of the work something that grows and changes as it moves along. Though unlike the aforementioned similarities these tracks each run under seven minutes, so you are only in the optimal trance of each passage briefly, broken by the fade and rise of each piece.
A thoughtful production that just washes over you like a stimulating sunshower expertly mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri. For the album they are taking their sound on the road to support it, and I urge anyone nearby to check them out in their hometown of Philadelphia, NYC, or DC between May 17-19 as they will present alongside Lowercase Noises and Slow Meadow for those live shows. Hopefully they are not playing last unless the plan is to become a long-lasting sleep concert, which would honestly be incredible. The have been recording since around 2013, and there’s nothing out of place here, it’s a flawless amalgamation of airy drones that will transport you into a meditative space.
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