Music Review: Motel Beds, Mind Glitter

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s a familiar feeling to the new Motel Beds album, Mind Glitter. It has a sort of retro indie feel, if your retro is the late 1990s, early aughts. There are nods to the Beach Boys, a little Brit Pop, smart harmonies, and some fine ear wormy choruses. It’s a solid return for the Dayton-based band, whose last album, These Are They Days Gone By, was released in 2012.

The opening track of Mind Glitter, “Open Ocean,” promises, “No need to feel sad / the waves will bring you back.” Lead singer John Paul Paslosky starts in a whispery timbre (remember when Courtney Taylor-Taylor from the Dandy Warhols went to this style of singing all the time? What happened there? Did his voice just get tired?) before bursting into a rawer, full-throated yawp. It’s an echoey track with angular guitar, appealingly spare at times before becoming brighter, grittier, richly layered, and loose feeling. The harmonies are strangely sweet.

“Loose feeling” is a phrase that comes to mind frequently while listening to Mind Glitter. It’s not math rock, and no matter how angular the guitar might be, there’s a delightful easiness to the songs. The propulsive “Live City” has fine harmonies and reverby guitar and a wonderful ramshackleness that demands a re-listen. Paslosky’s vocals are snotty and whiny before he slips into a sweet falsetto. “A.O.O.,” too, traffics in cheeky, swaggering vocals. It has an early ’90s, garage-loose indie feel, and a guitar riff that sounds like it came out of a Waxwings song. The chorus is utterly appealing and catchy like crazy. “Set Ender” is a marriage of styles, beginning as a louche Brit Pop homage (that veers toward the narcoleptic) before exploding into an anthemic Weezer-esque track. The guitar work has true gravitas.

Motel Beds do the quieter tracks justice, like the album closer “We’ve Killed More For Less.” Acoustic guitar shimmers and the hushed vocals really work here, making a fitting comedown from a rather energetic collection of songs. The dreamy acoustic “Paper Trees” has a pretty guitar sound, thanks to the dual guitarists, Tommy Cooper and Derl Robbins.

Mind Glitter showcases Motel Beds’ gift for hooky writing. The title track is amazingly catchy, swinging with a touch of harmony and handclaps. The driving “Too Long” has an undeniably great chorus, again with fine harmonies. It’s a little punky, and a whole lot of ear worm. “Thirst Veterans” is boozy and edgy and sounds uncannily like the late Jonathan Fire*Eater.

The best track, though, would have to be “Queens For The Summer.” Dreamy, backwards effects morph into a straight-up Beach Boys homage. The guitar sound is surfy and perfectly Beach Boys-esque, and the harmonies are spot-on. It’s a charmer.

Motel Beds wears their influences proudly on their sleeves (and they’re excellent influences). Mind Glitter is an altogether enjoyable outing from the band that’s eminently relistenable.

Mind Glitter was released on October 23 by Anyway Records.