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Review: Saint Motel - Voyeur [Album]

On The Records // "They are funny, shocking and interesting when they try, and it's a credit to them that this is most of the time."

by bartleet91, September 13th, 2012 and has been Read 1337 times.
Last Edited by: Jack Stovin September 13th, 2012.

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There's something of a party atmosphere to Saint Motel's hyperactive debut, Voyeur, while superficially it manages to convey the sonic equivalent of a goofy grin. Underneath the glossy surface, though, something darker is lurking.

'Feed Me Now' opens the album with a syncopated bossa nova groove. Meanwhile, 'Benny Goodman' uses a sample of the eponymous clarinettist playing alongside Peggy Lee on 'Why Don't You Do Right' to evoke old school jazz. It's nice to hear the sample used so respectfully: rather less kind to the original is Gramophonedzie's chopped-up 2010 version 'Why Don't You?'.



Juddering rhythms continue throughout the album. 'Puzzle Pieces' has a great melody, but its dull discussion of plastic surgery fails toadd anything more. Similarly, 'At Least I Have Nothing' has a strong tune but its lyrics about political apathy don't carry the same weight ("We're apart, no movement to follow, we are just stuck inside their business model").

It's on 'Daydream/Wetdream/Nightmare' that it feels like they're on to something big. The triptych song drifts through its tunes compellingly: the daydream revolves around a single idea, the wetdream shows off a woozy, blissful falsetto, before the nightmare arrives. At this point The Temper Trap could be playing a guest slot: it's a mark of the great musicianship here that these three diverse sections fit together so well.



The band's goofiness really comes through on tracks like '1997' and 'Honest Feedback' – respectively a song about a freshman's Mom's worries and hypersensitivity to criticism. However, 'Balsa Wood Bones', the final track is definitely the most disturbing and memorable.Telling the story of a bullied kid turned gun-toting avenger, the track closes the album not with a full stop but with a haunting question mark.

When the lyrics match the solid tunes, this debut reaches great heights; they are funny, shocking and interesting when they try, and it's a credit to them that this is most of the time.