{"id":41885,"date":"2010-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gold-motel-ep\/"},"modified":"2010-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-20T00:00:00","slug":"gold-motel-ep","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gold-motel-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Motel (EP)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Having outsourced my college education to the East Coast, where we\u2019ve currently gotten two feet of snow with no sign of stopping, I\u2019ve almost forgotten warm, sunny California \u2013 palm trees and cupcakes and year-round beach-going\u2026why am I in Baltimore again? Regardless, all you need to escape back to So Cal is this disc, the debut EP from Gold Motel. Fronted by Greta Morgan (formerly of The Hush Sound) and recorded with Dan Duzsynszski of This Is Me Smiling, Gold Motel is a lighthearted, jangly affair, akin to The Beach Boys\u2019 flair for airy melodies and bouncing harmonies. According to the group\u2019s press release, \u201cGold Motel doesn\u2019t exist, but if it did, you\u2019d find it on a winding road somewhere in the sun-drenched hills of Southern California.\u201d Even thousands of miles from home, this rings true when you spin these five songs.<o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Their self-titled EP is short and sweet, clocking in at barely under fifteen minutes (a full-length is due in early June), but the energy is seamless and unfailing (they describe their sound as \u201cice cream melting in the sun\u201d, which captures their cool\/sweet\/warm vibe succinctly.) Morgan\u2019s vocals are crystal-clear and serene, tricked out by tight bursts of instrumentation: weaving guitars, upbeat drums, and breathless harmonies. Opener \u201cPerfect In My Mind\u201d will stick in your head, and it\u2019s hard not to be charmed when Morgan sings, \u201cEverything is just fine \/ So long as I\u2019m by your side \/ It\u2019s perfect in my mind\u201d (try it on a Valentine\u2019s Day mix!).<o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Meanwhile, the group\u2019s lyrical chops belie that of typical bubblegum pop \u2013 see \u201cThe Cruel One,\u201d swathed with keyboards, Morgan\u2019s buoyant vocals, and bare sentiments that dig beneath the gilded West Coast exterior (\u201cI am your sinking stone \/ I\u2019d rather be alone than drag you down \/ And pick you up \/ Haven\u2019t you been through enough?\u201d). <o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Slowing the mood down is \u201cWho Will I Be Tonight,\u201d a bluesy sort of lounge song based around a swooning piano line and highlighting Morgan\u2019s spare, poetically honest lyrics. The subdued instrumentation fits this track perfectly, and it\u2019s nice to see the band exploring their palette on this quick first look. Similarly, \u201cDon\u2019t Send the Searchlights\u201d closes out the EP a little differently than the love-soaked, carefree opener. The beats are still bouncy and swirling, but this song is as kiss-off more than anything as Morgan sings, \u201cYou aren\u2019t a color \/ You will wash away \/ The spark will only fade the longer that it stays \/ I\u2019ve been looking for your silver lining \/ It\u2019s getting me nowhere \/ It\u2019s a waste of time.\u201d <o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Energetic, joyful instrumentation, tight lyrics, and a beguiling front woman all come together for a pretty great listening experience on Gold Motel\u2019s first EP. It may be a blizzard here in Baltimore, but it\u2019s easy to keep in good spirits with good music. <o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":30233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8530],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41885","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-gold-motel","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41885"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}