{"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","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/hands-across-the-creek","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}