On February 25, 2014, the Massachusetts emo band, The Hotelier, released their sophomore album, “Home, Like Noplace Is There,” through Tiny Engines.
After three years since their freshman album, The Hotelier broke once again onto the emo scene with this nine-track masterpiece and journey of an album. An “emo revival” album in every sense of the genre, “Home, Like Noplace, Is There” is full of addictive riffs with whiny, yet refined vocals from the band’s Christian Holden. “Home, Like Noplace Is There,” is a dark and brooding album, written about the lead vocalist’s past experience with toxic relationships and friendships.
“Home Like Noplace Is There” focuses a lot on deconstructing yourself so that you may grow after previous experiences. Tracks like “An Introduction to the Album” and “The Scope of All of This Rebuilding” exemplify the message of this album and the intention with which it was written. Musically, The Hotelier is extremely talented, which leads this album to have a really iconic sound, one fitting the cover of the album. Personally, this album had a big impact on me, both lyrically and musically.
One of the things that makes the album stand out is the difference in the tones of the songs, as songs like “Housebroken” are extremely mellow, while “Life in Drag” is a full-on screamo song, since screamo is a sub-genre of emo music. The difference in sound with each track helps drive in the lyrics of each song, as some are sad and defeated, and others are rebellious, making the listener want to provoke change.
All in all, “Home, Like Noplace Is There” is a perfect emo album and one, if not the, defining albums of the current generation of emo. As such, I give “Home, Like Noplace Is There” a 5/5.