If you’ve ever found yourself on the dance floor one minute, spilling your drink and regretting your life choices the next, then Hotel Mira’s new album, Pity Party, is the soundtrack for your emotional seesaw. Fresh from the critical acclaim of their 2024 EP, I Am Not Much Help, the Vancouver-based alt-rock quartet returns with a bold, chaotic, and unapologetically human exploration of joy, excess, and inevitable collapse.
What makes, Pity Party, a whirlwind of emotions is its ability to blend the highs and lows of life into an addictive sonic journey. Frontman Charlie Kerr (who also juggles a burgeoning acting career) lays out the duality of the album in vivid storytelling, a sharp mix of lyrical wit and raw vulnerability. Opening with “America’s Favourite Pastime,” the track screams party anthem but quickly hints at the inevitable self-destruction—think Iggy Pop meets Lana Del Rey with a flair for modern chaos. The album dances between these extremes: the electrifying joy of “Right Back Where I Was” and the heartbreakingly introspective “Made For This,” where Kerr picks apart the wreckage of a failed relationship with a detective’s cold logic.
Each track carries its own quirky flavor of self-sabotage, from “Melissa,” a drunken monologue where Kerr’s alter ego dives deep into his own delusion, to “Stone’s Throw,” where the looming specter of an ex triggers a downward spiral of regrets. But the album isn’t all self-doubt and sadness. There are moments of biting humor and pop-culture references, like when Kerr uses Cupid’s shotgun to illustrate why love is doomed in “Cowboy,” making, Pity Party, feel like a fever dream of love, lust, and lessons learned the hard way.
The soundscapes, brought to life by guitarist Clark Grieve, bassist Mike Noble, and drummer Cole George, match Kerr’s feverish storytelling. From cinematic builds to explosive choruses, they create a musical environment that’s as unpredictable as the emotional rollercoaster Kerr narrates. At times tender and other times fierce, they lay the perfect backdrop for a frontman who practically embodies his lyrics on stage, part Iggy Pop, part emotional wrecking ball.
Even when the party seems to end—like in the grounded “There Goes The Neighbourhood”—Pity Party, never loses its grip on you. With the album’s final, somber notes, it becomes clear that this record isn’t just a celebration of chaos, but also an acknowledgment of the darker, often ignored side of the party: the inevitable crash.
Pity Party, is an exhilarating ride of unhinged fun and reflective heartbreak. And much like any good party, by the end, you’re left questioning whether it was all worth it. Spoiler alert: It absolutely was.
