{"title":"Hotel Lux","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hands-across-the-creek","title":"Hands Across the Creek","description":"\u003cp\u003eHotel Lux release their debut album \u003ci\u003eHands Across The Creek\u003c\/i\u003e, on The state51 Conspiracy. The Portsmouth \/ London band released a critically acclaimed debut EP in 2020 and have spent the subsequent period writing and honing this debut LP, which is produced by Bill Ryder-Jones. Standout track 'Common Sense' takes songwriting influence from The Beautiful South and lyrical inspiration from RMT strikers and trade union leader Mick Lynch. The use of direct and plain-English reveals an incisiveness and a considered contemplation of modern Britain in 2022.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWith new guitarist Max (of fellow South London band LEGSS) bringing a “scratchy and harsher, more tone-y Telecaster sound” with him in 2020, the roots of Hotel Lux’s transformation were soon in place. The band’s classic influences — Dr Feelgood, The Stranglers and Ian Dury — would mesh with the sounds of artists like Neil Young, Brian Eno and The Waterboys as Hotel Lux spread their wings while remaining faithful to their roots. (It’s a truth reflected in the album title — a phrase Lewis picked up from his Dad’s mates, which he believed to refer to the Portsmouth-Fareham connection.) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVulnerability seems to creep in throughout the album. The songs were predominantly written in a rehearsal space in Bermondsey over a period of lockdown when ‘work meetings’ were allowed. Over the course of a few months, as tensions grew and friendships trod carefully along a tight rope. Through many, many ‘work meetings’ - \u003ci\u003eHands Across the Creek \u003c\/i\u003ewas birthed. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe band then decamped to The Wirral, near Liverpool, where they found further inspiration in the marina, the local Morrisons and a producer and kindred spirit in Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral; Arctic Monkeys; Yard Act) — who also contributed piano to the record. It was here that the band’s multi-faceted influences, £20 Casio keyboards and experimentation with omnichords, violins and marauding song structures finally fell into place. With rich emotional peaks matching the band’s signature self-effacing wit, and as many jangling guitars as there are squiggling organ hooks, the results have proven emphatic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The state51 Conspiracy","offers":[{"title":"White LP | Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":50424744706379,"sku":"1168539","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50424742904139,"sku":"1168586","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3c0ff1fc-115b-4a2e-b1e4-2a234c6489c2_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726782126"},{"product_id":"the-bitter-cup","title":"The Bitter Cup","description":"\u003cp\u003eHotel Lux unleash their second album \u003cem\u003eThe Bitter Cup\u003c\/em\u003e. The new album marks a new chapter for the band; after talking time to rediscover their identities, both as musicians and as a bunch of mates heading into their late twenties. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn ‘The Bitter Cup’, Hotel Lux took it upon themselves to self-produce. “Something that felt completely natural, but also entirely necessary” Guitarist Sam Coburn explains. Recorded at Big Jelly Studios, the band had enough confidence to lead on carving their own sound for this new record. “If you can’t trust yourselves, who can you?\" guitarist Max Oliver adds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten completely collaboratively, and recorded live to replicate the emotional intensity of their live shows, this new record finds the band at their most vulnerable, while, also, at their most confident. The development is clear: within both their personal lives and as musicians. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hotel Lux","offers":[{"title":"LP - White with Lyric Book | Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":53306363412811,"sku":"R0287-2185","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":53313093665099,"sku":"R0287-6090","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/HOTEL_LUX_-_COVER_-_FINAL_EDIT.jpg?v=1756916381"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_16251c72_thumbnail_4096_40f53acc-7aba-4d5a-a909-354b7f9302ce.jpg?v=1726782093","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/hotel-lux.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}