The Analog Project // Saint Motel
When A/J Jackson sings, “Lay me down, the California dream’s on my mind,” as the opening line of “Feed Me Now,” the first track of Voyeur, L.A. based indie pop outfit Saint Motel gives you a heads up that theirs will be an album to transport you to the sunny city’s urban landscape like taking a sip of an orange Jarritos — regardless of your current climate. I suppose that’s what Jackson means when he describes the band’s music as “escapist.” Voyeur, released last July as the quartet’s first full-length record, captures all the essence of the area with vibrant, Latin influenced horns, beachy guitar riffs, and lyrics that spin a story of infatuation that borders on obsession — all the while being incessantly melodic
But the mood they create is not limited to the sonic stuff; Saint Motel designs their album art, directs their own videos, and coordinates elaborate staging for their live shows. It is exactly this attention to aesthetics that makes the boys the perfect guinea pigs for our new feature, The Analog Project, in which we pass off a disposable camera to those with particularly admirable artistic vision. We let A/J, a.sharp, Dak, and Greg loose with the very first camera to document a couple weeks of hanging out and working on their next record. Not surprisingly, the resulting pictures give you some insight into their musical sensibility: melancholy and mischievous, sunny and sentimental, “and sexy,” Jackson reminds me, “always sexy.” As if you could forget.
To listen to Voyeur on iTunes click here and check their website for news and upcoming shows.
Words by Ashley Tibbits.
The Analog Project is an ongoing feature in which we provide a camera to an artist/s whose vision and expression we admire. We ask that they carry the camera along documenting their adventures. The result is a collection of images developed on film exclusively for BUNCH.
