Deirdre Lewis

Music

Premiere: The Majestic Surreality of Crashing Hotels “For a Sunburn”

May 19, 2022

Listening to LA indie act Crashing Hotels is like tuning in to a broadcast from another dimension. Songwriter Ao Anderson has a singular style that’s part psychedelic, part dream pop, part indie rock, and works entirely according to its own rules. Their latest single “For a Sunburn,” their first since 2018, is a miniature world of sound and color. It feels at once nostalgic for the minimalist surreal animation of the 70’s and looking forward to a future yet to come. The visuals, like the mutated guitars in the track, swirl and phase in and out of reality, always threatening to melt just as they coalesce. The mix of sounds and styles is anchored by Ao’s confessional and earnest lyrics, which keep the heady arrangement fully grounded. It’s beautiful and captivating, and like waking up from a good dream, once it’s over you’ll be left wanting to immediately jump back in to the world you just left.

 

Watch it on Youtube here.

 

 

Ao tells us: “I never know what I’m doing when writing music. I probably do it all wrong, if you spoke to anyone else. I don’t write lyrics down during my songwriting process. I don’t think about what I want to write about. Everything is spontaneous and a one-take. The instrumental is created in full before any vocals are thought about and my lyrics are a series of freestyles in order to keep them as raw as possible. “For a Sunburn” was finished after a night of partying in Brooklyn. My ex-girlfriend had some of her childhood friends in town from London and one of them had this amazingly raw/gritty voice. I asked her if she could sing and she said, “No.” So I said “perfect, will you record something for me!” and we hopped on the train and recorded the ‘Do do do dos'” Once I heard them, the song was done.”

 

“For a Sunburn” hails from their forthcoming full length TROPHIC CASCADE. Stay tuned to @crashing_hotels for release dates and more.

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