Smith & Thell – Hotel Walls

“It’s Mumford and Sister!”

Tim: Tom, and indeed our reader: if you’re feeling nihilistic then good news! This song is bloody brilliant. If not, well, maybe come back tomorrow.

Tom: It’s Mumford and Sister! I have no idea if that’s a compliment or insult. Also, I just realised that a) I made that exact same joke last time we talked about them and b) despite talking about several of their songs with you here, I have absolutely no memory of them whatsoever.

I don’t know if that’s my memory at fault, or if the songs just aren’t all that memorable in general.

Tim: I won’t lie: the first thing that attracted me to this, beyond that it’s Smith & Thell, was the video thumbnail. That looks lovely, as does the rest of this lyric video. But, oh, is there so much more to this as a song. In their words, it’s “a metaphor for life: you check in, you check out”.

They also say that, “while we’re here we should celebrate life rather than fearing the inevitable death”, but to be honest I don’t get that at all from the song – it’s “life is here, let’s cope with it”.

Tom: I’m generally in favour of lyrics with unconventional but realistic messages, and this certainly qualifies.

Tim: But you know what? That’s fine. It’s also brilliant to listen to – production, melody, everything is just right.

Tom: Yep, looking back at what we’ve said about them over the years, they’re clearly finding a voice that works for them and sounds great. They’re in the sort of place where one big breaththrough hit will make them massive. This won’t be it, but the next one might be.

Tim: It’s bloody brilliant.