Music Review: Trouble

Hospitality
2/5 stars

Hospitality released a one-minute YouTube trailer for their sophomore record a good three months before its release date. The video featured a slideshow of arbitrary images overlapped with faint plumes of fuzzy red smoke and an archetypal electro beat, a stark contrast from the album’s distressing commitment to lethargic indie pop. It was too much hype for the sleepy Brooklyn trio, but a shallow teaser isn’t the worst thing a band with VEVO-status could have hit us with.

“Nightingale” opens with Papini’s bare vocals garnished with a generic blues rock guitar that would make even the most diehard Black Keys fan cringe. The awkward shredding fades into a slow bass and cymbal sequence that just barely complements Papini’s whiney refrains.

Bouncy keys hint at a much-needed divergence from the band’s dreary instrumentals in “Inauguration,” a song about mourning missed phone calls while watching a presidential inauguration telecast. Yup. The keyboards quickly disappear, taking with them any potential the track had for upbeat redemption. Once again, the song is bombarded with Papini’s dusty vocals and a redundant drum set that reiterates the record’s low-spirited drone. The flat lyrics reflect Hospitality’s overarching habit of featuring painfully bland anti-narratives that are as devoid of substance as the record’s stumbling instrumentals.

“I Miss Your Bones” has a pleasantly coarse riot grrrl quality to it that might have been enjoyable if it had lasted longer than a measly 20 seconds. The cut’s energy sinks when Papini’s vocals weaken into a trite, ballad-like hum.

Listening to “Trouble”reminded me of watching “Girls.” If the show’s castwere to start a cutesy indie band, it would probably sound something like this album. I hoped something stimulating would freshen up the record’s repetitive and alienating track list, but the moment never came. Instead, I trudged through 40 minutes of half-baked elevator music with a cheap garage overlay you’d hear in a Williamsburg dentist’s office. “Trouble” is a stubborn convergence of unremarkable lyrics and lackluster instrumentals. Consider the title a warning—this record is sonic flannel.