S Hotel - Still Always

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

---

Review

After a busy week or a day or... actually whenever you feel like it, S Hotel, who come from Cleveland, present their time-stopping album 'Still, Always', and prove immediately and reliably able to create the restful stop you require. Matthew Mohr (guitars, backing vocals, lyrics), Lisa. V. Edwards (vocals), Timski (wallpaper guitars), Sherry Luchette (bass) and Olivia Sci (drums) renew the timeless melodies of the 40's and 50's and give it a unique shape that will fit countless music tastes. To make their sound even more expressive, S Hotel accommodate another five inventive musicians who naturally merge into the music and round it off gracefully. 'Still, Always' is the group's second album since they formed in 1999 and, with its strong specific character of jazzy-swingy music, will kidnap and take you away to an unknown but safe place. It all starts with 'Vesuvia', which provides a well built entrance to this luxury hotel. Lisa's sophisticated voice, which is being deservedly compared with those of the magnificent Billie Holliday and Dona Godchaux , dominates a setting against which guitars inset with a tinkling harp. All the songs on 'Still, Always' are of a short length, and each lasts only around three minutes,which in itself is quite unusual, but also turns out to be very foresighted. Each track flashes up an emotion which in a final effect lay down a base for what S Hotel want to express in their music. 'Ties and Bows', which features guest instruments such as harp and percussion , grows with a romantic sensation that evolves later in 'Beneath so Kind' but that then, track by track, starts to step back as the lyrics turn bitter with disappointment. The instruments adapt to sense this change in atmosphere and, fluently feeling their new role, start to melt into one in another. Lisa's voice is a key feature on the album but not on every song. The instrumentals 'Haunted' and 'Foothills' take advantage of her absence and dive you deeper into the music to explore their independent creativity. The guitars on 'Foothills' suggest impulsively ridden happiness or whatever you want it to be. When the album breaks towards its end as 'In My Life' dances off in a slow rhythm of mature guitar sound and 'So Close To Reason' launches, you will be either totally against this record or inspired to the greatest depth of your heart. Don't despair though when the last blow of a guitar sounds away and Lisa closes with 'Willow Switch'. You get treated to another three secret tracks which lead the album to the absolute end. To tell you the truth, 'Still, Always' is not an album to impulsively fall for. It's much worse! Its self-conscious capability to be outstanding with "old fashioned" music delightfully attacks your taste the more you listen to it. Then you have to rely on its faith -Still and Always. More information about S Hotel can be found at the band's website www.s-hotel.com

Track Listing:-

1 Vesuvia
2 Honesty and Thistles
3 Knots and Bows
4 King's Parade
5 Beneath So Kind a Sky
6 Gossamer as a Moonbeam
7 Past Present
8 Haunted
9 Tea Above Rapollo
10 Foothills
11 In My Life
12 So Close to Reason
13 Spell Fountain
14 Willow Switch