Simon Joyner - Hotel Lives
(Truckstop)
In the grand tradition of Bob Dylan, Simon Joyner is a respected
singer/songwriter who really can't sing at all and isn't really
known for being masterful guitar playing either. Instead, Joyner, like
Dylan, Will Oldham, and others of this ilk, can tell a story through
lyrics and express every nuance of that story through his voice,
that creaking, raspy, off-key voice.
To help give more weight to his songs, Joyner enlists the support
of Michael Krassner, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and much of the rest of
the Lofty Pillars/Boxhead Ensemble crew. However, the accompaniment
here is very understated, the exact opposite of the grand,
sweeping gestures that support Krassner's voice and words in The
Lofty Pillars. This difference is very fitting though. Krassner's
words are sappy and sentimental, as if torn from the pages of an
ages-old scrapbook. Joyner's words are different--less like tales
from a scrapbook and more like tales of warning and woe from
an older brother in the midst of a drunken night of numbing.
The accompaniment mirrors the difference in the singers quite
well: when supporting Krassner, the music is as warm as possible,
enhancing the bittersweet imagery, and when supporting Joyner, the music
is restrained, adding only occasional bursts of mood to provide
depth to dramatic turns in Joyner's stories.
On Hotel Lives, Joyner tells many stories of mistakes, regret,
woe, and an occasional reason to rejoice. Two songs center on
breaking relationships. In "The House," Joyner describes in
vivid details the last moments of a couple living together.
Joyner vividly describes his lovers anger and bitterness as his
lover packs her belongings and leaves the house. Joyner feels
detached, watching what's going on but in denial that it is
happening. As he is left alone in the house, its complete
emptiness is what first hits him. As Joyner sings "If I ask
the walls to fall they will," feelings of being on the verge
of breakdown are encapsulated perfectly. While this song is
very personal and emotional and very in the moment, "Geraldine"
is almost like a fable. Steel drums in the background tell the
ear that this is not a sad song like "The House." After a weak
moment, Joyner is prepared to confess infidelity to his love
Geraldine, only to hear "'everything happens for a reason.'"
To compliment these songs of the end of love, several songs
find Joyner just wallowing in misery. In "Hotel Suite," Joyner
is a broken man and detached from society. He revels
in the solitude of a hotel room, where no one can bother him and
he can remove himself from the busy world outside. However, it is
when an old friend pulls Joyner back into the world, he finds
a rare moment to rejoice. As the pair drink the night away, Joyner
finds that "My Life is Sweet" (in the song of that name). Joyner
does his best Dylan emulation here, as after his mouth turns to
"alcohol and cotton," he starts feeling like he's flying over his
depressing hometown, and, with a Spanish guitar accompanying him, he
feels like he is floating away from all his troubles.
Hotel Lives is a massive double album, and some songs are much
less successful than the ones mentioned above, making the album
somewhat imposing in length. Also, Joyner, like all Dylan
emulators before him, has little need for traditional song
structure. That is all find an good when in "My Life is Sweet,"
when the song is allowed to meander through emotions along with
Joyner, but on songs like "Hotel Suite," when Joyner
haphazardly creates a chorus by just repeating over and over the
words "hotel suite," Joyner's laziness ("experimentation") can be
a detriment to the song. The emotion of the songs, however, always
come through, which, despite the over abundance of singer/songwriters,
makes Hotel Lives an album worth listening to.
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