Everyone has an off night. But when it happens when on a date, things can get awkward.
This is the subject of the new single “Ginger Ale” from Vancouver’s Hotel Mira, a blistering volley of guitar-bass-drums-voice power pop with a danceable, push-pull feel.
Take a listen here.
Hotel Mira has gone by a few names and lineups by now; The Beauties, Japanese Girls, JPNSGRLS, and now the aforementioned Hotel Mira, a name not likely to result in confusing Google search results. The band have been well-reviewed in Canada and abroad, particularly in the UK where they’ve been featured on Lauren Laverne’s BBC6 show, and in venerable Q magazine who pronounced that their song “Mushrooms” was a must-hear in 2015.
The band began in its earliest form in 2010, releasing a series of singles, an EP (2013’s Shark Week), and two full-length albums in 2014’s Circulation and 2016’s Divorce, all under the JPNSGRLS moniker. As may be evidenced here, their style is an amalgam of influences reflecting any number of post-punk influenced guitar bands that forged this same kind of direct approach to the business of rocking out, all the while with one eye on the dance floor. The Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys have both been mentioned.
The song was inspired by real-life events, when frontman Charlie Kerr hit the town with a special friend while on tour in London. It didn’t go well, plagued as he was by distractions and unable to hold up his end of the conversation. In part, this song is an apology to “Becky” for this state of affairs, with some self-flagellating lyrics to underscore the point in the strongest possible terms.
This is their third single, featured on their new self-titled EP that’s out August 17.
Happy Listening!
Links:
Radio Free Lightning Bug 