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Two years on from the breakthrough success of debut album Perfectionism, Vancouver’s Hotel Mira have reached “Fever Pitch” with a new, pop-twisting single of the same name. The quartet’s latest track arrives at streaming services July 15.
“Fever Pitch” became a fan favourite in 2020 through singer Charlie Kerr’s series of early lockdown livestreams, but has blossomed from its intimate, acoustic roots towards a full-band affair incorporating gel-slicked guitar and thick-as-thunder drum work. Kerr’s lyrics embody the unencumbered thrill of throwing yourself headfirst into a relationship, as well as the mix of joy and terror that comes with the discovery that “true love’s a lobotomy.”
He explains: “That’s kind of been my experience, for better or worse. It’s all-consuming and lifechanging to find true love; it’s quite the ask to jump into something like that and be vulnerable. So, there’s a fear that the song speaks to as well.”
Since Perfectionism’s release in early 2020, Hotel Mira have climbed the Canadian alt rock radio charts; the album’s “Speaking Off the Record” alone has over 2 million streams on Spotify; and the band have built up a 50k-and-growing TikTok following. With “Fever Pitch,” though, Hotel Mira’s chief songwriter is “dismantling the dark poet character that emerged on Perfectionism,” humbling their success in-song with the universal truth that love makes fools of us all (“I thought of five or six ways to really dress myself down; that’s the chorus.”)
Produced alongside Ryan Worsley (Dear Rouge, Fake Shark) and mixed by Tony Hoffer, “Fever Pitch” is the first taste of Hotel Mira’s forthcoming sophomore album. If Hotel Mira’s earliest work was subversively anthemic, “Fever Pitch” may be their first song to fully project a feel-good groove all the way to the back of a festival crowd. Kerr admits: “It feels like a gutsy move to put out something that’s meant to be poppy — that people are meant to like and dance around to — rather than something incredibly esoteric or against the grain.”
The streaming release of “Fever Pitch” precedes a music video for the single, as well as Hotel Mira’s upcoming summer U.S. tour with Light Organ labelmates the Zolas, a Vancouver-area arena date with Billy Talent, and more dates to be unveiled through the fall.
Hotel Mira are Charlie Kerr (vocals), Clark Grieve (guitar), Mike Noble (bass), and Cole George (drums).