Sharp and intelligent pop music will always stand out from the pack, especially today when the term pop music seems synonymous with phrases such as throw-away and lowest common denominator. The View From The Barstool, the new single from Canadian pop auteurs Hotel Mira, sounds like sharp and intelligent pop music disseminated across a tired musical landscape.
The use of the word auteur might seem high praise, but for a change in the over-egged and hyperbolic world of music journalism, I think it is justified; they could very well be laying down the blueprint for a whole new take on pop music and what it could be.
If, in the past, pop purveyors have been happy to throw out anything that will get the hoi-polloi dancing with the minimum of effort, Hotel Mira, thankful, shows us that there is another way, and this latest single, if nothing is not a poised, peppy and near-perfect slice of pop music. (Although, given how deftly done it is and how much non-pop moves and grooves they bring to the table, perhaps pop is not a word that even does it justice.)
Soulful guitar licks, scintillating synth riffs, funky bass grooves and dance-friendly drum patterns form a brilliant platform, with the anthemic, uplifting, hands-in-the-air euphoria of the choruses being the perfect icing for this moreish musical cake.
I liked their previous single, Waste Away; it is an understatement to say that I love this new one. Great pop music is back on the menu.