Atlanta two-piece Hotel Fiction (Jade Long and Jessica Thompson) dug into “Acolyte” by Slaughter Beach, Dog...
Hotel Fiction: A riff is never really working on its own in a vacuum. The unique combination of the riff and the music behind it are what make the listener feel something. One that I could inhale every day for the rest of my life is the intro electric guitar riff in Acolyte by Slaughter Beach, Dog. Everything guitar-wise (and otherwise) in this song is absolute perfection.
The part is objectively simple, even expected in some ways, but the manner in which it interacts with the rest of the music (the acoustic, the drums, the bass) is what gives it that indescribable feeling to me. This riff has a frankness, reminiscent to the feeling you get after a good cry - acceptance and peace, but also an inescapable sadness. Like watching a sunrise, alone on a quiet morning. It tells a story, with a beginning, middle, and end, and the different phrases feel like sentences in a conversation.
I first heard this song in college, and it always reminds me of a particular group of friends I was close with for awhile. Whenever it comes on, I find myself lingering in a sort of memory highlight reel. Do songs ever do that to you? Something in this song has always beamed straight to my heart, and the guitar riff is a huge piece of that equation.
The deluxe version of Hotel Fiction's Staring at the Sun album is out now.
Photo by Jose Nava
