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LISTEN: OK Hotel – ‘Stay Bright’

OK Hotel have just unleashed their high octane EP Stay Bright, a collection that hits you like a tsunami of heart-on-your-sleeve alt-rock energy.

OK Hotel
Photo: Ruby Boland

Life. Life can be found in all corners of our known universe. Whether simple or complex, it carries an inherent certainty that nothing is certain and sometimes shit just gets crazy. I can’t find a release from an artist this year that summed up that sentiment better than OK Hotel on their breakout debut Stay Bright.

The EP was produced by Fletcher Matthews, responsible for bands like Dear Seattle, STUMPS, Sweater Curse, and Clews, who has helped launch them into mainstays of Australia’s rock scene. I have no doubts that the same is just beyond the horizon for the four best friends from Wollongong who bonded through melancholy mindsets and unstoppable ambition.

The EP is packed to the brim with meaty choruses and riffs that draw influence from fuzz-fuelled ’90s bands, such as Smashing Pumpkins, and just the right concoction of shoegazey, dreamy elements. Yet their immediate, intimate writing style and hook-fuelled choruses cement them firmly in the present, as if you’re right there with them every step of the way.

The incredible music videos that the band have self-produced are a testament to the DIY attitude that small cities like Wollongong breed into their scene. Their latest clip for What A Lie is the real deal, filled with cinematic landscapes adorned with nostalgic visuals and art overlays. “You can make anything look legit with a Canon 5D and a stabiliser,” lead vocalist Josh Fogarty mused.

“What a lie, I’ll never let you change the way that I smile
We’re designed to fall apart one piece at a time
I’m see through, You’re see through
Can’t feel you, You’re see through”

“Stay Bright is about the disheartening effort of staying positive and finding kindness through weird times,” says OK Hotel. “We wrote some of these song ideas being so young it feels like a long time ago when we listen back. They aged with us in a way that’s hard to describe and it’s a record we’ll always want to hold close because of that.”

Listen to Stay Bright below!