Released: 02/02/24
The second release from the duo/couple of Crys Cole and Oren Ambarchi, following on from Sonja Henies vei 31 (2014), Hotel Record was originally released in 2017, and this beautifully packaged repress is a timely reminder of the double LP’s wild beauty and intelligence. Carving out an intimate and human sonic space across a diverse array of compositional approaches, sound sources, fidelities, and textures, Ambarchi and Cole reimagine electro-acoustic music not simply as ‘abstract’ sound, but as an audio diary – the pair’s relationship explored across four long-form pieces that touch on the variety of forms the life of this couple takes: musical duo, travelers to exotic locations, opponents in a game of cards …
Each of the double LP’s four sides presents a distinct sound-world, yet each manages to attain the same suspended, somnolent feeling, outlining a space where improbable combinations of the electronic and the acoustic, of extreme closeness and amorphous distance, reside, imbued with the gentle insistence of a dream.