Hotel Neon - All Is Memory (2021)

Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going...

All is Memory is another delectable slice of ambient drift from Hotel Neon. Music is a window to the soul, and on All is Memory, the ambient trio look out upon the world with melancholic, but appreciative, eyes. Brothers Andrew and Michael Tasselmyer are joined by Steven Kemner for what feels like a retrospective as well as a renewed understanding of life, how it’s comprised of memories and made up of moments which come and go. Looking back is a natural, ingrained part of the brain’s wiring, and one cannot help but retreat into the past upon occasion. All is Memory not only recalls these treasures, but it opens up the floodgates for them to come surging into the light.

Hotel Neon are able to extract the sound of a memory as if it were amber. The tones are fluid and the music naturally follows, going back through the years, travelling through the older decades to reach a sun-dappled moment in time. Angelic tones meet deep and surrounding ambient swells, and deeper textures swim in murkier lower registers. ‘Blossom in Ruin’ reflects on and understands that loss is a part of life; things can never stay the same, and change is constant. The tidal rhythm can be felt within the pulse of the music and heard within the sound of the surf, rising up to the shoreline and then washing everything away, reclaiming the music; ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Like the current, music drags one away. Even as the music feels like it’s returning to the safe haven of the past, it’s still progressing, and with every second that goes by, the track comes closer to its endpoint, resembling life itself. In the end, everything is washed away.