Its good to see Kompakt responding to contemporary dance music taste in this manner. The Cologne label has stuck to its guns through various shifts in techno and house production, at times sounding wildly out-of-touch, but Terranova’s Hotel Amour represents a credible attempt to address current interests. It finds the established German group fusing the gushing pop-house traits Kompakt (and Terranova themselves) is known for with the in-vogue neon tones and sharp structures of vintage Chicago. The two were never that far apart anyway.
So, we get the airy synths and smart claps of ‘Question Mark’, over which the voice of Thomas Hoffdig, reminiscent of Antony Johnson croon ‘I will meet you in the dark’ – a literal combination of Adonis and Superpitcher. ‘So Strong’ is more percussive, the vocal (by pop-techno veteran and Julee Cruise collaborator Khan) more resigned and shrouded in echo, while the title track looks to the jazz-house of Detroit with its strings and vibraphone lines. The dominant presence of vocals offers one method of breaking up the repetition, with most tracks stretching basic melodic ideas originally drawn 20 years ago (no bad thing when done this competently) but I find the vocals excessive and detracting. Hotel Amour‘s best moments are those that ditch the commercial imperatives and go for straight dancefloor tool functionalism: the soaring bleeps of single ‘I Want to Go Out’, and the Berghhain-esque shudder of ‘Take My Hand’.
Joshua Meggitt
