The aesthetics behind Saint Motel's second album are immense. Thankfully, so is the music.
-
8
Even if you haven’t heard of this indie rock band, you’ll definitely be familiar with their sound – formed in Los Angeles by four film students in 2009, Saint Motel brings forth a 50s/60s Americana aesthetic through modern airwaves, relying heavily on horns and saxophones throughout their music. 2014’s ‘My Type,’ which led an EP of the same name, has been used in countless commercials since its release, and perhaps most notably on the soundtracks of Paper Towns and Mr. Right in 2015.
Like ‘My Type,’ saintmotelevision‘s first single (‘Move’) is already set to be featured on the soundtrack of FIFA 17. Even though their discography has already been heavily featured in film and gaming, it’s the visual aspect to the band that strangely seems to take center stage. Saint Motel have only released two studio albums since they began; creating 17 music videos alongside them. Their film student roots definitely shine through that number alone, with each video showcasing how the band seem to focus more on the visual aspect of their sound. Even in their music, they create a large sound to fit their soundscape; as though they’re already further in planning the music video for the track rather than the track itself.
Both ‘Move’ and ‘You Can Be You’ were uploaded to YouTube and Facebook, featuring the same revolutionary viewing technique; a 360-degree virualizer. Viewers of the videos are able to access a 360-degree view by panning the screen left, right, up and down with the touch of a mouse (or finger). It enables even more of a human touch between Saint Motel and the listener; something they’ve already achieved through their attention to detail.
saintmoteltelevision itself can be viewed as a concept album ala Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Green Day’s American Idiot. In Saint Motel’s case, it’s more so the visuals that form the concept of the album rather than any lyrical storyline, which is typical for the band thus far. They scrap the theatrics and focus on accentuating their Americana aesthetic through accompanying artwork, music videos and songs themselves to create a world exclusive to Saint Motel themselves that I doubt any other band would be able to imitate.
The tracks themselves are extremely bright and garner an incredibly fun listen. Even though some of the tracks fall flat towards the middle of the record, they are all something we definitely need to hear at this moment in time.
With two records under their belt, Saint Motel are well on their way to forging a memorable and maybe even legendary career for themselves. They are so headstrong in their aesthetical cause that I doubt we;ll be seeing that last of them any time soon.
saintmoteltelevision is out now via Elektra Records
