Scott Klein’s “Jesse’s Hotel” is an ode to garage rock with a hint of The Jam a la (Paul Weller), and Elvis Costello. He could be a drifter, a lonely dreaming man with a crying soul (with a pocket full of songs) and a penchant for scrawling the stories of the gone.
The fecund punk undertones are not to be overlooked, there’s a youthful exuberance, a primal voice that asks, “what’s my name?” We are watching (listening to) the flood of stories, a procession of gifted folk waving in the brush of a transient mind.
Moving via mental-pictures and song: lyrics like a night train plowing through every stop in the summers of our lives and we witness the daydreaming, it’s a madness that comes with the practices of the pursuits of the young. In Scott Klein’s “Jesse’s Hotel” we hear “you’ll never shake this/ dead or alive/ oh my my,” there’s a wild attachment in the lines that become a pathos but also Scott Klein is simply a messenger of no alliances, there’s a bard at work delivering his messages.
“DOA” is a voyeuristic trance served like a raw 60’s garage/ alt-country feel, it stings in all the right places and leaves us wanting so much more. There in the limelight Scott Klein oscillates with searing, well spaced, vocals that embalm us with the tragic slant that becomes the lyrics we hear driving the songs of “Jesse’s Hotel.”
There’s an emotional whirlwind, something at the root of these songs that make them so carnal and rich, it’s a nuance that brings its sad fruit to life. The wailing and guitar driven melodies are the crux of what makes this work so well- it’s a meticulous but rewarding experience almost an aboriginal walkabout to feel and unpack the consciousness of Scott Klein’s “Jesse’s Hotel.”
Written by Hari Palacio
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