Album Notes

“Goliath, I’m On Your Side”, the second album by The Hotel Alexis,
shows the band poised to make an impact in the landscape of American song.
“Goliath” marks a significant step forward for The Hotel Alexis, and especially
for singer/songwriter Sidney Alexis. Taking the Americana and folk influences from the first album, “Goliath” expands the distinctive songs into more experimental and psych influenced territory. Written primarily by Alexis during a stay at an ex-hippy commune in southern Spain and recorded in locations all over the US, the album’s tracks are reminiscent of Sparklehorse trading songs on the porch with Richard Buckner while a Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed looks on with an approving nod.
Emerging in the spring of 2005 from sleepy Portsmouth, NH, the debut
album “The Shining Example Is Lying On The Floor” became an unexpected
critical favorite despite the almost total lack of PR or touring exposure. The
hushed, intimate atmosphere created by the lush instrumentation and highly
personal songwriting led Dusted Magazine to call the record “the most
pleasant surprise of the year,” going on to praise “never have I been so
captivated”. The influential Aquarius Records of San Francisco named it album of the week, stating that “this record is just so completely beautiful and utterly heartbreaking it’s a little hard to know how to describe it in a way that does it justice”. Soon after the release of “The Shining Example...” Alexis and the band began pushing at the boundaries of the songs during their live sets, resulting in experiments with texture and noise the results of which remained with them during the recording sessions for the new album.
Tracks such as "The Devil Knows My Handle" still echo the country-tinged pedal steel and vibraphone tones of the first record, but other tracks such as the 18 minute instrumental "Hummingbird/Indian Dog" showcase longer, drones and textures that would sound equally at home on an Oneida record. Fractured folk-rock epics like "Soft Soft War" could be paired with the best Akron/Family tracks, and the quiet humming of "Sister Ray" could be straight from 70's AM radio. The layering of noisy and unconventional elements with the more traditional instrumentation and captivating songwriting results in a sound that is more dense and challenging than the first record, but also more deeply personal and rewarding.
Building on an already solid foundation, “Goliath, I’m On Your Side” is a hazy, beautiful record that will reveal more and more with each listen and is certain to please fans of psych, folk and experimental music.