“Wolves Running Through The Desert,” the B-side to Hotel Mexico’s forthcoming Double Denim single, shouldn’t be such a slippery song to think about. “A Space In The Loveless Field,” the A-side, seemed more demanding of introspection, the track’s slowly unfolding structure and general ennui the stuff that usually trips one up when trying to describe a piece of music. “Wolves” is much more straightforward – slightly faster pace, attention-grabbing guitar riff, the Kyoto group’s signature high-pitch vocal delivery. It gets a little more shimmery near the end (more on that in a bit) but for the most part feels like one of the group’s most immediate offerings to date.
Naturally, all of that leads to the revelation that this has been a slipper song to think and write about, because Hotel Mexico turn “Wolves” into such a dreamy affair that what seemed relatively uncomplicated suddenly starts looking like a mirage. “Dreamy” isn’t a new adjective to throw around these guys, but I’m using it not to stand in for the similarly overplayed (guilty as charged) hazy but because “Wolves” reminds me of driving down a freeway in August and thinking there are puddles all over the road. That central guitar line conjures up mental images of the Taj Mahal during a particularly sweltering summer, and then Hotel Mexico lets everything get a little wild with the back half of the track, where voices float away from bodies and pop up in the most unexpected places. A friend who also listened to this song said the reason he likes Hotel Mexico is because they manage to be both accessible to everyone while also adding enough experimental touches to their songs to make listeners go “whoa.” “Wolves” showcases that opinion perfectly. Listen here, or below.
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