The Hotelier formed in June 2009 when lead singer Christian Holden met Chris Hoffman, Zack Shaw, and Sam Frederick while attending high school in Dudley, Massachusetts. In 2009, the band released their first EP, titled We Are All Alone, which received little success outside of Massachusetts. At the end of the year, the band released Two Song Demo. In 2011, the band released their first album, titled It Never Goes Out, receiving some attention.
Originally named The Hotel Year, the band changed its name because they did not think the name was particularly good, and there was a band called My Hotel Year which they did not want to be confused with.
The band released their second album in 2014 titled Home, Like Noplace Is There, which brought the band to attention in the emo revival scene. After releasing the album, vocalist Christian Holden stated in a blog post on the bands Tumblr that "Our new album deals with some real dark stuff. So to all my brooding and slightly damaged friends, have your a happy album or Rugrats in Paris nearby. It’s partly about my experience with friends and loved ones in the past three years which were very complicated, toxic, and abusive. But laid within is a lot about the deconstruction of self for personal growth and transformation. I hope it helps you live and stuff. Apparently we are emo now." Home, Like Noplace Is There ranked at number 1 on the AbsolutePunk staff's top 30 albums of 2014, and number 6 on the users' top 50 albums of 2000-2015. According to Marc Snitzer, writer for the Philadelphia City Paper, The Hotelier was named one of two bands "leading the emo revival". The release of the band's sophomore album was ranked number seven on Alternative Press's list of the "12 Biggest Moments of The #EmoRevival in 2014". Leor Galil, writer for the Chicago Reader named it his favorite record of 2014. The band was also featured (for their second album) in a Boston Globe article highlighting the best music from Boston in 2014. The album was included at number 29 on Rock Sound's "Top 50 Albums of the Year" list.
The band was featured on Property of Zack's "Artists To Watch in 2015". The band performed at the 2015 Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain. In the spring of 2015, the band supported La Dispute and Title Fight on their co-headlining tour.
On 15 February 2016 Christian Holden wrote a blog post on the band's Tumblr account in which they mentioned an impending album announcement for an album entitled Goodness. The album was formally announced the next day. At the same time the band released a trailer for the album set to the song Goodness Pt I, a song sold as a limited edition numbered vinyl during the band's 2015 tour.
The band premiered their second single titled "Soft Animal" on April 22, 2016. The album itself was released a little over a month later, on May 27, through Tiny Engines.
Piano Player
The Hotelier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
remaining figures of new moons
to curve around your axle heart
in hopes that something new will start.
They're winding down they're closing ranks
to rest another 30 days.
You lay and watch them wax and glow.
You hold them in your hand and let them...
A kid half my age, baby's breath and meadow sage clutched in her hands like trophy game, just like the wild world was tame, was granted home and tender care into an awkward piece of ware three-quarters full or quarter-drained and both adversely sure how long they will sustain.
My eyes greet hers and hers do mine and then the room becomes her shrine. An older ma'am sets herself straight and then she smiles with 88 remembered loves and morning suns until her woven was sung. Her fingers dropped like falling rain. The entire room awash with the sustain.
You always said that you don't dance but then a heel turn to a shadow stance. I'm rung like sodden cloth. And the autumn leaves turn over across your floor, into the hall and I've declined into a crawl and you decompress and fall away but this floor is raised on beams of trust and there's room enough for both of us so stay. Sustain.
Inside your room there's 40 few
remaining figures of new moons
to curve around your axle heart
in hopes that something new will start.
The things you grow are set to die.
You cling to them with knuckles white.
So wind me up, damper to floor
and I don't know if I know love no more.
The Hotelier's "Piano Player" is a song about the passage of time and dealing with the fleeting moments of life. The song sets the stage in the first verse, mentioning the 40 or few remaining figures of new moons inside a room, symbolizing how time moves forward even when one is not ready for it. The act of curving around the axle heart represents the desire for something new to start or something to hold onto, but in this case, it is holding onto the new moons. The verse also indicates that time is winding down and closing ranks, meaning that time is coming to an end, and there is no stopping it.
The second verse describes a young child holding onto baby's breath and meadow sage, representing the innocence of youth and how quickly that innocence can be lost. The child is granted home and tender care, but they are not sure how long they will sustain, indicating that there is no guarantee for the future. The third verse features the line "sustain," which is repeated throughout the song, indicating a desire to hold onto something or someone in the face of an ever-changing world. The final verse refers to the act of winding up a piano and playing it until the dampers hit the floor. This act is an attempt to hold onto something familiar and consistent, despite the constant change around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Inside your room there's 40 few
remaining figures of new moons
to curve around your axle heart
in hopes that something new will start.
In your private space, there are a few forty remaining models of new moons that you believe cling to your heart like the axle of your automobile; hoping that they will bring forth a new start.
They're winding down they're closing ranks
to rest another 30 days.
You lay and watch them wax and glow.
You hold them in your hand and let them...
Those models of new moons are winding down and wrapping up to rest for another thirty days. You lie and observe as they develop and illuminate. You hold onto them in your hand, only to let them disappear again.
A kid half my age, baby's breath and meadow sage clutched in her hands like trophy game, just like the wild world was tame, was granted home and tender care into an awkward piece of ware three-quarters full or quarter-drained and both adversely sure how long they will sustain.
A girl who is half your age, with baby's breath and meadow sage clutched in her hands like it is a trophy game. She has received a home and tender care that comes with it, and both of you are unsure of how long the relationship will last or if it will continue to bring joy.
My eyes greet hers and hers do mine
and then the room becomes her shrine.
An older ma'am sets herself straight
and then she smiles with 88 remembered loves and morning suns until her woven was sung.
Her fingers dropped like falling rain.
The entire room awash with the sustain.
As your eyes connect with hers, and hers with yours, the room becomes hers, and she is the center of attention. A senior woman straightens up and smiles, reminiscing on 88 past loves and mornings, until her life is complete. She lets her hands fall like the rain as the entire room fills with an echo that lingers.
You always said that you don't dance
but then a heel turn to a shadow stance.
I'm rung like sodden cloth.
And the autumn leaves turn over across your floor,
into the hall and I've declined into a crawl
and you decompress and fall away
but this floor is raised on beams of trust
and there's room enough for both of us so stay.
Sustain.
Despite your claim that you cannot dance, you turn on your heel and assume a shadow stance, but it leaves me feeling drenched in water. As autumn leaves fall over your floor and into the hallway, I have regressed to a crawl, while you relax and withdraw. The ground beneath us is stable, carrying us, and there's room for both of us, so we should stay and maintain our relationship.
The things you grow are set to die.
You cling to them with knuckles white.
So wind me up, damper to floor
and I don't know if I know love no more.
Things that you cultivate are reserved to die, but you cling to them with white knuckles. Therefore, wrap me up, lower me to the floor, and I don't know if I believe in love anymore.
Contributed by Muhammad H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Peter Cerato
Lyrics:
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
They're winding down, they're closing ranks
To rest another 30 days.
You lay and watch them wax and glow.
You hold them in your hand and let them go.
A kid half my age, baby's breath and meadow sage
Clutched in her hands like trophy game,
Just like the wild world was tame,
Was granted home and tender care
Into an awkward piece of ware
Three-quarters full or quarter-drained
And both adversely sure how long they will sustain.
My eyes greet hers and hers do mine
And then the room becomes her shrine.
An older ma'am sets herself straight
And then she smiles with 88 remembered loves
And morning suns until her woven was sung.
Her fingers dropped like falling rain.
The entire room awash with the sustain.
You always said that you don't dance
But then a heel turn to a shadow stance.
I'm wrung like sodden cloth.
And the autumn leaves turn over across your floor,
Into the hall and I've declined into a crawl
And you decompress and fall away but
This floor is raised on beams of trust
And there's room enough for both of us so stay. Sustain.
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
The things you grow are set to die.
You cling to them with knuckles white.
So wind me up, damper to floor
And I don't know if I know love no more
leitmotif
Sustain is when a musical note rings out without being muted. The lyrics call back to a piano and piano-player (most directly in the third verse which describes an older pianist playing in a way that draws from happy memories of her past. "And then she smiles with eighty-eight remembered loves and morning suns, until her woven heart was sung." There are eighty-eight keys on a piano, and she had a happy memory for each of them.
The second verse refers to a child filling a vase ("an awkward ware") with wildflowers, but the speaker being unsure both if the vase is "three-quarters full, or quarter-drained" which is a play on the classic "is the glass half full or half empty" question, and is also unsure how long the flowers in the vase will survive (sustain).
The first verse is an analogy. "Inside your room there's forty few remaining figures of new moons." New-moons happen once a month. Forty-few might refer to a limited timespan- maybe forty months.
"To curve around your axle heart, in hopes that something new will start." Referring to the new-moon. To curve around a heart like an axle means to rotate around it, like the moon around the earth (or this character, standing on the earth). The character is letting their limited time pass, month by month, all the while hoping "something new would start."
"They're winding down, they're closing ranks, to rest another thirty days." Time keeps passing, month by month.
"You lie and watch them wax and glow, you hold them in your hand and let them" Refers to the waxing and waning of the moon in the sky as time passes month by month.
The song looks at mortality and taking joy from fond memories of the past, but also how we can cling too tightly to the past even when our time in the present is short.
*TLDR*: Song's about the comfort of happy memories, but if you spend too much time in the past or passively wait for more good things to happen you wind up wasting the time you have left and pushing away the people that want to share that time with you.
Saeed Khazaee
I've been jamming it for the last year still sounds so fresh
Peter Cerato
Lyrics:
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
They're winding down, they're closing ranks
To rest another 30 days.
You lay and watch them wax and glow.
You hold them in your hand and let them go.
A kid half my age, baby's breath and meadow sage
Clutched in her hands like trophy game,
Just like the wild world was tame,
Was granted home and tender care
Into an awkward piece of ware
Three-quarters full or quarter-drained
And both adversely sure how long they will sustain.
My eyes greet hers and hers do mine
And then the room becomes her shrine.
An older ma'am sets herself straight
And then she smiles with 88 remembered loves
And morning suns until her woven was sung.
Her fingers dropped like falling rain.
The entire room awash with the sustain.
You always said that you don't dance
But then a heel turn to a shadow stance.
I'm wrung like sodden cloth.
And the autumn leaves turn over across your floor,
Into the hall and I've declined into a crawl
And you decompress and fall away but
This floor is raised on beams of trust
And there's room enough for both of us so stay. Sustain.
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
The things you grow are set to die.
You cling to them with knuckles white.
So wind me up, damper to floor
And I don't know if I know love no more
L
one of the best songs my ears have been blessed to hear
Jadograd
this is my first time hearing this song or band and im so very in love with this upon first listen!! like wow!
CorporateNothing
agreed ^
Trent Bos
Great display pic.
TheButterism
I love it, I also really like the transitions especially at 1:05
Kristen Sarmiento
love this, so proud of you guys
McRiddles1
This song is fucking phenomenal. I could only ask that the vocals come up in the mix a bit.
Otherwise, haven't been so hooked on a Hotelier track since I first heard Dendron.
Alex Smith
I LIKE WHAT YOU GOT!!!!