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Los Angeles-based duo MOTEL 7, which options in its ranks Dylan Jagger Lee, the 24-year-old son of MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, has simply launched a brand new EP, “Headphones”. For Dylan Jagger Lee and Anton Khabbaz, their bigger physique of labor encompasses a various array of sonic references and feelings primed for the automobile stereo on the Interstate. The “Headphones” EP spans style and sound — encompassing fashionable alt-pop and tinges of hip-hop accents to the breezy sounds of 2000s indie/alt rock — taking listeners on an infinite daydream.
Khabbaz states concerning the EP: “Our EP ‘Headphones’ is a listening expertise. Not a single second thought on any lyric or manufacturing alternative — every little thing was first intuition. We actually wrote no matter we felt and what to get off our chests at that actual second the music was made. We wrote each music in a special emotional state… and way of thinking. I really feel like we did not restrict ourselves to a selected ‘sound’ for this EP.
“Plenty of these songs have been written within the thick of the pandemic. They have been written ‘just about.’ Dylan and I’d bounce concepts backwards and forwards through textual content to get these songs to the end line. It was a difficult but eye-opening expertise to put in writing music like that.
“We known as this EP ‘Headphones’ as a result of we wish the music to take you away from the world just a little. Whenever you put on headphones you nearly wish to shut your eyes… However generally you additionally wish to dance… And generally you even wish to go to the seaside for a run… We wished the music to take you wherever you need it to. Every time you could have headphones on, it is simply you and the music… Nothing else… There’s one thing so stunning about that idea.”
The title observe kicks off the EP and serves as a euphoric sense of freedom. “Headphones” options dreamy guitar that dances with soothing vocals over a mattress of textural sounds. The general theme is the thought of placing one thing on so simple as a pair of headphones, being utterly shut off from the world, closing your eyes, and permitting your self to transcend to a complete different world.
“Headphones” is an bold combination of MOTEL 7‘s influences, however comes out on the opposite aspect feeling contemporary and as dynamic as something they’ve ever put out.
Final 12 months’s single “Issues I Hate” is an introspective dive into the L.A. nightlife scene. “We’re writing about being dragged into one other evening surrounded by ‘folks and locations and issues that I hate,'” the band expresses. Distorted and crunched up guitar tones merge with dynamic synth pads and textures as MOTEL 7 combines the weather of rock and hip-hop cadences to their total resonance. The self-awareness theme related to “Issues I Hate” triggers anxiousness and that feeling of wanting nothing greater than to only be at house wishing you by no means went out within the first place.
Arriving in the summertime of 2021, “Messing With Fireplace” highlighted the theme of battling your feelings in a susceptible state. Ethereal vocals dance on high of a driving 808 that compliments an array of distorted drums and electrical guitar. With a chameleonic method to alt-pop, the duo’s current effort is fueled by summer-soaked preparations, lo-fi various beats, and vibrant textures. Accompanied by a Paris Brosnan-directed music video, the clip takes listeners on a delirious journey again to the previous with ’90s-style visuals. As we adhere to the band’s lyric, “Why are you messing with fireplace / Making an attempt to get greater,” we acknowledge each the truths and falsehoods of our personal identification.
“Golden”, one other new music, is MOTEL 7‘s most experimental one but. The duo messed round with 50 totally different layers of guitar tones, chopped them up, and threw in some loopy FX over them and “Golden” was born. Lee‘s verse was fully a freestyle whereas Khabbaz knocked out his verse in 5 minutes. It is a observe that may discover its manner on the membership, but in addition for an extended drive house. It is a wholesome mix of swag and introspection and serves as a inventive compound of the 2 musicians’ types, with scratchy vocals embedded by modern digital manufacturing and hip-hop impressed drums.
The third model new observe is “Everytime” and it is an anthemic rock music that sits within the pop house with guitar tones and drums impressed by 2000s pop-punk bands similar to SUM 41 and SIMPLE PLAN. “Everytime” offers a superior vibe of nostalgia, however lifts off to new heights of pleasure for a duo with no sonic ceiling.
The primary single from “Headphones” was 2021’s “Are We There But” — an ode to an epic highway journey. Over high-energy indie guitar riffs, drums, and a singable hook, “Are We There But” captures a sense of escapism in a time the place escapism isn’t solely desired, however downright important. Along with the discharge was their ocean-soaked music video directed by Paris Brosnan. Climbing right into a 1960’s marigold Mustang, Khabbaz and Lee traverse down the long-lasting Southern California PCH. The general theme for the music video was constructed across the idea of two boys heading out on a spontaneous journey the day after having an extended evening out on the town.
MOTEL 7‘s sun-drenched and susceptible ballads, odes to summer time, and recounts of unrequited love underscore the thrill of youth — ups, downs, and every little thing in between. Cast collectively from their shared appreciation of the softer aspect of digital manufacturing whereas college students collectively at music faculty, Khabbaz and Dylan Jagger Lee sensed a inventive vacuum they wanted to fill. After a number of classes testing the waters and valuing spontaneity, MOTEL 7 was born. As soon as Lee started experimenting with vocals and singing, a expertise he did not initially know he possessed, the duo emphasised writing with out boundaries, staying up till the wee hours of the morning, and throwing up tracks on SoundCloud, garnering a wholesome potpourri of listeners within the meantime.
Launched in January 2021, “Reminder Not To Assume Too A lot” EP is the manifestation of the fecund setting from which Khabbaz and Lee thrived. Initially launched anonymously, it raked in a powerful seven million-plus streams, a testomony to their energetic track-posting on-line. Songs like “It is Alright”, “We Can By no means Let Go” and “However Now It is Gone” spotlight the timelessness of acoustic preparations and oozing vocals. The EP additionally served as an overture to their total inventive and melodic imaginative and prescient, which has progressed and been refined in “Headphones”.
“Headphones” EP observe itemizing:
01. Headphones
02. Issues I Hate
03. Messing With Fireplace
04. Golden
05. Everytime
06. Are We There But
Photograph credit score: Paris Brosnan
