After releasing their debut EP – Barstool Preaching – back in 2020, then waiting a long time before revealing anything else; Portsmouth’s take on raucous pub-rock Hotel Lux have finally announced some new music! Set for release on January 27th 2023, the band’s first full-length LP will be titled Hands Across The Creek. To celebrate the announcement the group have also decided to give us our first snippet of the album with the lead single, “Common Sense”. Listen, Below.
The 10-track album, or 11 if you fancy forking out a little extra cash for the deluxe edition, will actually feature exclusively unheard music. Now that may sound like a given, but the band’s touring schedule over the last year or so has led to a lot of shows with only a tiny amount of material. So, the fact that none of these new tracks have even been performed to the public yet is quite a nice surprise. That being until they embark on their pretty extensive EU and UK tour next February. The insanely dense tour will see the group play 22 dates across 5 countries all in February. You can find full ticket information for the shows here.
Pre-order Hands Across The Creek right here: https://t.co/mdiXu0IWPp
To celebrate, we embark on a UK and EU tour in February 2023. Pre-order the album for access to pre-sale. See you out there! pic.twitter.com/2aLj6rJz3M
— Hotel Lux (@hotelluxband) September 21, 2022
In a statement released by the band, they explain that lead single, “Common Sense is about how the media are aware that apathy is the greatest enemy of social shift, how we are being taken for fools and we’ve become numb to it.”. This nicely ties into their songwriting philosophy for their last EP. When confronted about their previous single, “Tabloid Newspaper”, this is what they had to say, “That old saying of the journo’s cut, paste and twist is the same in songwriting. Just no-one admits it. These three verses and a silly chorus are a confession” – we see there’s a self-deprecating protagonist. One who questions their integrity as a songwriter. One who pokes fun at the rhetoric appropriated to sell music. ‘Be cathartic, deep’. In other words, the song begs the question. Are singers structuring their take on the lyrics to fit the mould they’re taught makes a song good? Possibly.”
While this new album may be taking the same lyrical approach to slandering society by way of excessive Britishisms, not everything has remained so consistent. During lockdown, the group had to part ways with their original guitarist, Jake Sewell, before being replaced with Max Oliver. The new addition of producer, Bill Ryder-Jones, has also allowed the band to push their music in a different sonic direction to what we may have heard before.
Hotel Lux’s UK Tour dates:
17/2/23 – Brighton – Green Door Store
18/2 – Birmingham – Dead Wax
19/2 – Manchester – Deaf Institute
20/2 – Glasgow – Audio
21/2 – Leeds – Key Club
22/2 – Milton Keynes – Craufurd Arms
23/2 – Bristol – Exchange
24/2 – London – The Dome
25/2 – Portsmouth – Staggeringly Good
