California indie-rock band Cold War Kids released a new video today for “Hotel Anywhere,” a track off their fifth studio album Hold My Home (out via Downtown Records), and we're inspired to go piece together our past and set it to music.
It opens with text, warning, “The footage you are about to see is real” and immediately dives into a sped up slideshow of yellow-toned black and white imagery and clips. Ransom-letter lyrics overlay the imagery, “Hold me down / I won’t float away” giving the footage a juxtaposed modern facelift. Although the photos pay homage to a time before 2004 (when these guys first got together) – the nod to history, the long spans of open road, and the lyrics, “I am awake / I am awake / A postcard from Anywhere USA,” give us an idea of what it must feel like to hit the tour circuit after nearly ten years together.
Vocalist Nathan Willett’s compelling, incomparable, commandingly fraught tenor impels through the speakers and drives the song forward. The track is rounded out by a consistent four-note bass line, a melodic skipping synth, blended guitar and a barrage of beats thanks to other band members (Matt Maust, Dann Gallucci, Joe Plummer and Matthew Schwartz). The song is the chaos of crossing wires that somehow make electricity or a mosaic of someone else’s memories that show the essence of everyone’s soul.
Cold War Kids' 2015 headline tour will hit Terminal 5 in NYC on March 20 (where I will be shamelessly shouting lyrics to “Miracle Mile” and “Hang Me Up to Dry” from the crowd), but they’ll also be stopping by Pittsburgh (March 17), Toronto (March 18), Rochester (March 19) and Boston (March 21). If you can’t make the show, support these guys by checking out their socials below and scooping up their latest and greatest Hold My Home, here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7k1PDBJSUg&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
