Review: Pottery – Welcome to Bobby’s Motel

5-piece band Pottery are up-and-coming in the alternative music scene, having played spots at festivals such as End of The Road last year with just seven released songs. Welcome to Bobby’s Motel has been described by their record label as “full of ambitious, complex performances that exude joy and mayhem in equal measure” and its title summarised as “Bobby is Pottery and his motel is wherever they are”. This album offers some recognisable tones heard from their previous work No. 1, but also presents new and unique ideas not heard from Pottery before, making the album an extreme success.

Consisting of eleven songs, each provides exciting and catchy tunes which are all bound to get stuck in your head.. It’s impossible to speak of every single track on the album, as they are all extremely memorable. Instead, I have chosen a few which should be at the top of your to-listen-to list.

‘Hot Heater’ is reminiscent of their previous release No. 1, particularly ‘Hank Williams’, which exhibits extreme energy and is the perfect song to move to. This single was also performed at some of their live appearances last year, where they demonstrated the energetically addictive qualities of the song in their stage presence, which was replicated by much of the audience. The chorus is undoubtedly memorable, and will be stuck in your head for days after, with the somewhat bizarre timbres evident being another extremely addictive quality. One aspect that simply cannot be ignored here is the pure strength of the vocals, which at the start are almost reminiscent of Bowie.

Another particularly memorable song from Welcome to Bobby’s Motel is ‘Reflection’. Differing from the heavier side of this album, ‘Reflection’ offers a break from the chaotic and excitable nature of much of the singles, opening with a smooth, broken guitar chord. The vocals in ‘Reflections’ stand out amongst the others, and again are fairly reminiscient of Bowie’s style. Of course, it cannot be a Pottery song without some noise, and ‘Reflection’ demonstrates how effective the use of volume can be in a song. The guitars and drums build up to what you expect to be a grand exhibition of noise, but the song then returns to its smooth, funky roots.

Pottery’s ability to create catchy tunes has been successfully demonstrated in No. 1, but there are certain songs on Welcome to Bobby’s Motel that outshine others in their addictive qualities. One of these is definitely ‘Hot Like Jungle’. Released earlier this year in April, the band show how much their sound varies from song to song as this single differs from others as it lacks any energetic chaos and instead presents the grooviest melodies heard on the entire album.

Where Pottery’s talent seems to be most alive in this album is ‘Texas Drums Part I and II’, which is 6 minutes of chaotic art. As the repetitive vocals sing out “Won’t you play those funky drums for me” throughout, the musical accompaniment takes a journey of experimentation and energy, where the use of unique timbres are present to create a memorable experience for any listener. The 6 minutes you spend immersed in this song will certainly find you entirely addicted to each and every guitar solo, drum timbre and layered vocal sample.

Not only is each song on this album a brilliant listen, listening to Welcome To Bobby’s Motel from start to finish is satisfying considering the song transitions. It’s simply impossible to stop listening once you’ve heard the transition to the next song, and since each song offers a totally different experience to any other, it’s extremely easy to listen to from start to finish in one sitting.

Welcome to Bobby’s Motel is a fantastic second album from Pottery, demonstrating their seemingly never-ending talents in musicianship. Although every song differs from one another (and often quite drastically), in each there are still clear evidences of powerful vocals, compelling musical accompaniments and extremely memorable tunes.

Welcome to Bobby’s Motel will be released on June 26th 2020 via Partisan Records.