Arts & Entertainment

Album

2017 Winner: The Hotelier’s Goodness

Photo Credit: Kylie Shaffer

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We don’t want to tell them how to do their jobs, but the Worcester-bred outfit might be underselling the product with the title of their third studio album—because Goodness, released late last May (just missing the cutoff to snag last year’s award), is pretty great. When they broke onto the scene with 2014’s darkly introspective Home, Like Noplace Is There, the Hotelier was heralded among a handful of local bands at the forefront of the emo revival. They’ve since shed the shackles of that contentious genre, proving themselves a rock band to be reckoned with. On Goodness frontman Christian Holden is no less lyrically verbose—and the material no less personal— but he is ready to deal with his considerable stock of emotional angst on a higher plane.


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