Review:

Evocative, intense and resolutely at odds with the contemporary 'World of McFly', My Hotel Year is the debut solo album from No-Man’s Tim Bowness, which marks Tim’s return to the One Little Indian label after a decade’s absence.

Primarily written and produced in collaboration with Gramophone’s David Picking and music-tech writer Stephen Bennett, the album’s 11 songs were written and recorded in England and Germany over an intensive six-month period. Legendary fuzz-bass innovator Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine/Robert Wyatt), Roger Eno, Michael Bearpark (Faultline) and German guitarist Markus Reuter, also make superb contributions.

Shifting from the observational ‘Last Years Tattoo’ and ‘Brave Dreams’ to the fractured groove of ‘I Once Loved You’, the ambient lull of the 75-second title track and the exquisite string-quartet languor of 'Sleepwalker', the album combines highly personal narrative song-writing with inventively eclectic arrangements and a stripped-down production approach.

One of the year's most original, personal and haunting records, My Hotel Year has a stark and gripping edge which provides a powerful and uncompromising showcase for Bowness’ uniquely intimate voice.

Tracklist:

1. Last Year's Tattoo
2. I One Loved You
3. World Afraid
4. Me I Knew, The
5. Made See-Through
6. Hotel Year
7. Ian McShane
8. Blackrock 2000
9. Making A Mess In A Clean Place
10. Sleepwalker
11. Brave Dreams