Hotel Last Resort

"Frontman Gordon Gano still has a beautifully quivering bleat, and on Hotel Last Resort - the group's 10th full-length and second since reuniting in 2013 - he flexes it hilariously on songs about how he hates choruses ("Another Chorus"), believes in nothing (a revamped version of the group's New Times cut "I'm Nothing" from 1994), and lampoons the book of Genesis ("Adam Was a Man") ... Much of the music sounds like stripped-back demos for a Fifties rock band, full of in-on-the-joke rock & roll clichés like silly call-and-response backup vocals and Roy Orbison-style throbbing guitar riffs ... Best of all they never linger too long on the jokes, keeping the songs mercifully short and enjoyable".

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"By and large (...) Hotel Last Resort follows the formula the Violent Femmes have been perfecting since their inception, delivering an above average batch of their wiry, smart, and sometimes tortured songs".

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"... a bizarre version of "God Bless America" (yeah, that one) (...) closes this set on an odd note. As the disc's longest tune, it clocks in at over 4 ½ minutes and wanders around directionless for most of that time. Whether he's being serious or this is a goof is impossible to tell and an odd jammy instrumental section leaves this mostly impressive album on a strange, inexplicable and somewhat uncomfortable note. But strange, inexplicable and uncomfortable are descriptions the Femmes' are likely proud of. Their ageing indie audience expects nothing less and should be more than happy to check into this hotel of last resort".

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