Hospitality

Add Date: January 24 

Artist: Hospitality 

Album: Hospitality 

Label: Merge 

Genre: Rock, indie pop 

Comments: The onesheet describes New York trio Hospitality as "a sophisticated new pop voice", and that's a pretty good way to summarize the band's self-titled debut. I am, of course, a big homer for Merge Records, but let me say this: while they could coast by with nothing but their heavy hitters (Arcade Fire, She & Him, The Mountain Goats, and the recently re-signed Magnetic Fields, among others), the label does a superb job of signing up-and-comers, too: see Let's Wrestle, Wye Oak, The Love Language, and now Hospitality.

The influences on Hospitality range from The Police to Elvis Costello to Kate Bush, and surely there has to be at least a bit of Stephin Merritt and Stuart Murdoch on any good indie pop album, right? But straightforward pop music, this isn't; every time you're sucked in by Amber Papini's coyly sweet voice or a nifty melody, your brain is warped by a guitar squall or angular bass line that, frankly, you weren't expecting to be there.

These kinds of rewarding surprises happen throughout Hospitality, and there's no break in quality during the album's 10-song, 33-minute duration. My favorites, though, were "Friends of Friends" (check out the music video, featuring Alia Shawkat), "Eighth Avenue", "Betty Wang" and "The Right Profession".