It’s sort of disappointing that Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell never became much of an "It Girl," musically speaking. When Amber Papini surfaced a couple years back with her Brooklyn-based trio Hospitality, it felt like there was another feminine voice working in the same modern-twee vein as Campbell. But it was more than that tidy aesthetic that made Hospitality’s 2012 self-titled debut stand out, so much so that they’ve seemingly abandoned the simplicity on their sophomore LP, Trouble.
You can’t blame a band for having aspirations beyond catchy indie-pop about the plight of the 20-something, for moving beyond the lyrical equivalent of the Girls pilot. To be critically applauded for ephemeral toe-tapping must be a frustrating experience for an ex-Ivy Leaguer like Papini; it’s inspired awfully ambitious work in Vampire Weekend, after all. On their debut, however, Hospitality exhibited more cleverness lyrically than cussing over punctuation or chronicling campus life. They were underrated, skill-wise, upon their debut, while simultaneously being touted as a "band to watch."
The result is a follow-up that makes a point of showing its listeners the difference between "beautiful" and "cute." There are moments of real beauty on Trouble: A 90-second trumpet feature that soars brightly over an acoustic guitar line that rises and falls visibly like a burly man’s chest (“Sunship”), or the sort of instrumental spawned more by a willingness to let things meander than by technical ability (“Sullivan”). On the latter, cymbals crash as if in slow motion, pianos pipe up at just the right spots, Papini’s voice croons, and guitar lines manifest out of thin air. The whole thing moves in and out as effortlessly as taking a breath, whereas other parts of this album are distinctly not easy. “I Miss Your Bones” recalls the squirmy riffs of Television, and as cool as toughness looks on Hospitality, they’ve only reached that place following extensive live touring as a rock band.
There are a few fun, poppier songs here, too. The appropriately-titled “It’s Not Serious” is a welcome respite to the crescendoes and the instrumental wing-spreading abundant on Trouble. Here’s where we get a taste of that Tracyanne Campbell thing, just a hint of life in a time gone by. But unlike Campbell, Papini’s filling in her sharp observations with recycled imagery, singing here of photographs stashed under the mattress and waiting by the telephone for a guy to call. A Brill Building piano line gives the track a sense of time and place, a façade that’s smashed by “Last Words”, a mostly instrumental song more in line with the saxalicious closer on the most recent Bon Iver album than a Phil Spector production. It’s punctuated with 80s-style synths, another prominent addition to Hospitality’s overall sound. Sometimes, like on “Last Words”, it goes a little too far into dated territory, but in general the variety is a welcome addition.
Trouble covers a lot of ground musically, moving through decades and subgenres of pop and rock with each track. But those who listen closely will find a few consistent points of imagery that loosely connect the work: locks and keys, bodies of water, and the telephone. These are things that both connect and separate us from those we love, but for Papini, the vulnerability that accompanies either letting people in or falling apart without them is the real takeaway.
