More about: Pottery

It’s quite simple, Pottery are enablers. Within minutes, a blast of the Montreal sweethearts attracts adrenaline, granting unprecedented access to an exclusive branch of the Dad Dancing Members Club, a membership entitled with every listen. Aligning with beckoning bass lines, stretching harmonies and fuzzing distortion, Pottery are pathing the way as innovators with their sprawling, head-on challenge as an indie band defined by hip-shaking dance. On the album, many references lead to the source of the motel of life: “You might spend your entire life looking for Bobby’s Motel, and just when you think you will never find it, you realise you’ve been there all along. It’s filthy and amazing and you dance, and you love it.”

The opener, ‘Welcome to Bobby’s Motel’, is reminiscent of waiting at a dreamscape loading screen for a lad’s holiday, fuelled on Es and psychedelia. A distinct blast from the past with pulsating arching guitars, it’s a promising sign that Pottery are an ailment good for the soul. Untethered, ‘Hot Heater’ pounces on the senses through a typecast mirroring an intricate Talking Heads-esque build-up, before levelling out into an exotic frenzy of tambourine-laden dance tunes. 

‘Under the Wires’ quenches the thirst of the uninspired, putting forward what can only be described as Windmill-core at its finest. With a kettlebell in hand, the hypnotism of Pottery’s rhythm sections holds hostage the track’s flitting pace and unpredictable direction. Warning signals unremorseful, the track seamlessly blends into ‘Bobby’s Forecast’, a lucid dream welcomed by slurred commentary quickly ignited into life by a cascading rally call for infectious freestyling and skat. Throughout, cascading energy entices the album’s momentous direction; like an avalanche at the door of normality. Next, the hooking ‘Down In The Dumps’ presents a moment of throbbing interlude, juxtaposed by alarms and feedback, clouding a false-start for a fast-paced pursuit. However, it’s short-lived, as the track pitches out through a gazing epiphany to make room for ‘Reflection’ a notable, laid-back, slacker pop ballad. 

With little surprise, ‘Texas Drums Pt. I & II’ up the ante, leading by example as the album’s heralded messiah. Building from cultish chanting, the track is an ode to Pottery’s love for pots and pans, immersed in a trippy warp that flies off the chain into a realm of hymnic dread. ‘NY Inn’ follows, blasting through a wall of devilling math-rock.  Hinting at the band’s unawareness of come-and-go trends, ‘What’s In Fashion?’ picks at the falsity of following fads, emphasising through quizzed statements over melodic galloping.

Closing, the racing chase of jiving rhythm ‘Take Your Time’ partners with angelic pipe organs, a melodic worshipping of patience and acceptance. 

Arguably leaving the pinnacle of the album until last, ‘Hot Like Jungle’ is ideally forged to make mothers swoon: a real heart-melter. As if by a gliding wave of harmonising excellence, the song seeps a yearning for lust and connection through progressive means. 

Whether your jive is soul, indie, or anything in between, Welcome to Bobby’s Motel is a burst of refreshing taste, accustomed to the band’s warping sense of reality. Like replacing a mixer with more spirit, the album rises to the occasion, with unpredictability at the forefront of its mind; get on your knees and plead to your new masters, for Pottery have dropped a serious contender for album of the year. 

Welcome To Bobby’s Motel is out now via Partisan Records. 

More about: Pottery