Gold Motel, ‘Musicians’ – Song Review

When the Hush Sound announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus back in 2008, singer-songwriter Greta Morgan went looking for new musical opportunities to pursue. That opening inspired the Chicagoland native to pack and briefly locate across the country to Los Angeles to soak up the Southern California music scene, culture and sun, returning with a new sense of purpose and a decidedly more jangly sound on her mind.

That new approach seems to inform Gold Motel’s sun-soaked 2010 debut album, ‘Summer House,’ and comes out even more on their self-titled follow-up, which dropped earlier this month. Both discs have received their fair of critical acclaim — but if first ‘Gold Motel’ single ‘Musicians’ has anything to say about it, for all the praise the band has racked up, it still has a ways to go to meet the minimal commercial success of the Hush Sound.

“Most of my friends are musicians in the subway station … paying their dues like a faulty underwater mortgage,” Morgan and fellow singer Dan Duszynski sing over some straight-forward pop guitar riffs strummed on top of mid-tempo beats, a punchy bass and Band-like organ chords. The tune is pretty catchy, sure, but wouldn’t really stand out if a band busted it out while busking on the L train in Chicago. Drop some loose change, sure, but save your bills for the next Hush Sound reunion.

Listen to Gold Motel, ‘Musicians’

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