The cinematic (I bet they are tired of this adjective) indie band Saint Motel was also playing at the Hudson Block Party on Sunday, and this is a band which never seems to be out of charisma or energy. They played quite a lot of their new songs off their upcoming ‘Voyeur’ album, advertising a few times their release party at the El Rey on July 14, and the crowd couldn’t be happier with the new tunes.
You could definitively recognize their signature explosive sound with power choruses, the same confidence in the vocals and some classic catchy melodies, but still, the new songs sounded a little different with more exotic twists than ever. It is a little difficult to talk about songs you have only heard once live, but there definitively were some Samba-like bouncing rhythms mixed with vocal harmonies in one of them, and I guess a more funky-dream pop combination in another one, which brought lots of oo-oos.
I recognize a few new ones, already released online like the nostalgic and piano-driven ‘1997’, and when they played their Brazilian-rhythms-infused ‘Puzzle Pieces’, the crowd got really into it. It definitively was the soundtrack of a well-behaved stylish party, with nevertheless a large whiskey bottle half-hidden under the keyboard, that A/J took a sip of before the first song, and that got passed into many fans’ hands afterwards!
A new one, ‘Honest Feedback’ was a sort of missing link between ‘Pity Party’ and ‘Do Everything Now’, full of that very glam energy they have used us to, without forgetting the harmonies and the guitar assaults, and they nevertheless played their poppy explosive ‘Butch’ song off their first release, which made people sing along their heart out while still dancing.
Totally in touch with their old-classics side, they covered Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway’, this one-hit wonder that made A/J and his bandmates make the best wa-wa-wa-wa-wa of the afternoon
Saint Motel was the perfect early evening energy groove for the block party, and although I didn’t get to see this solar event announced around 6-7 pm, the eclipse combined with lots of beer may have had a powerful effect on people, as one woman in particular went on the most crazy-shake-your-body-provocative dance with other half-drunk guys I ever seen… Visibly, the band also had a good time after their set. But back to their performance, their album ‘Voyeur’ is out on July 10, and with their carefree attitude, their ease with crescendos and swirls of guitars, it should be a lot of fun, solar eclipse or not.