The Beat Surrender

Paris Motel is essentially a one woman band in the form of Amy May who’s band can vary between being a string quartet and a fifty piece orchestra depending on the gig in question.

Reading the press release that accompanied 071 I was instantly intrigued by how the music was described “sounds as if it’s being played by ghosts, in a field, across the delta, and that the sound floats over you in drifts and swells” as well as “ethereal music for a spectral hoe-down”.

Now you could sum that up as pretentious nonsense, however on listening to this remarkable six tracker, I have to say that it’s a perfect description and one that I’m finding hard to beat. It’s particularly relevant to the opening track (and my favourite on here) I Lost My Heart / Philippe, Philippe. It opens with accapella vocals, features haunting yet angelic sounding backing vocals and is utterly beautiful stuff.

The creeping Mr. Splitfoot is a far darker track, moodier in both the music and the vocals, the title track follows and is the most commercial sounding track on here, with it’s catchy “071” refrain. For me the second half of the mini album is even stronger than the first, you have the tinkling, plaintive Static Song, tales of drunken arguments and fights in Oh and to finish with the string soaked Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow. An apt closing track because 071 does leave an impression on you and you do feel like you are parting from a loved one when it gets to the end of the record.

071 is out now on Hotel Records and we should hopefully have an interview to follow with Amy shortly.

On a separate note when I tried to search for it on Amazon to put the link up I couldn’t find it, it did however offer me Mica Paris! Now whatever happened to her?