Following up their critically lauded release
Home, Like Noplace Is There, Massachusetts indie trio
the Hotelier deliver another impassioned, yet refreshingly minimalist effort in 2016's
Goodness. While dissecting his own barely filtered personal minutiae, frontman
Christian Holden also manages to craft an impressively nuanced and wholly engrossing set that seems to broadcast equally from brain and gut. Beginning with a spoken-word poem titled after an unidentified coordinate ("N 43° 59' 38.927" W 71° 23' 45.27''),
Goodness constantly swells and shrinks in size, using recurring instrumental motifs, intimate interludes, and just the right mix of bittersweet warmth and dramatic exaltation. The weary tension of midtempo tracks like "Soft Animal" and "End of Reel" are offset by concise rockers like "Piano Player" and the wonderfully sparse "Goodness, Pt. 2." Whether or not
the Hotelier fully identify with the emo-revivalist tag that has been thrust upon them, they've created an intense and affecting rock album that can be accessed and understood across genre lines. ~ Timothy Monger