Brothertiger

BROTHERTIGER x HOTEL POOLS - PARADIGMS

“Hotel Pools was born because I was tired of having to deal with other people controlling my output,” Ben explains. “When the project was born in 2018, I was just putting demos on Soundcloud — totally grassroots, and it just kind of connected with an audience. I leaned into making the music I wanted to make, having the artwork made that I wanted made, working with who I wanted to work with, and kind of shunning the industry to a certain degree.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, John was honing his craft in New York and building a name for Brothertiger on the assemblage of music blogs that defined 2010s music discovery. Platforms like Bandcamp, Soundcloud and Myspace presented a refreshingly straightforward alternative to the record label route, offering more creative autonomy and deeper relationships with fans.

But after years of writing, producing, and releasing their own music, both artists found themselves yearning for creative kinship.

“Being an independent solo artist, I’m so used to working by myself, and I know Ben is too,” says John. “But the past two years, I’d been thinking it would be cool to collaborate with someone whose music I really like who is also a solo artist who shares a similar vision and sound.”

John reached out to Ben, Ben sent over a demo, John added lyrics. Immediately, both artists felt struck by not only the fluidity of the working relationship but the comfort they felt in each other’s artistry.

“Lyrics started coming to me the second I heard the demo,” says John. “I had this idea of someone who’s far out at sea, not because they are lost, but to be alone with their thoughts. It touches on loss and how a human is meant to process it, if there is a right way. When I sent the song back to Ben, he told me about how he had just lost his brother and how this song affected him because of that. From that moment, we knew we had to continue making music together.”

That first track became “Black,” a sleek and moody gateway into an album that pulses with equal parts loneliness and self-possession. The pair traded demos back and forth, tinkering with stems and writing lyrics until the album came into view. Artistic ego was surprisingly absent, and roles were delineated naturally — John handled lyrics and vocals, Ben spearheaded much of the production, and the resulting album feels remarkably native to both musicians.

When two established artists put their heads (and their extensive vintage synth collections) together, the music they make will always be more than the sum of its parts. For Brothertiger and Hotel Pools, collaboration was a reminder to relish the creative process and find solidarity with other independent musicians.

BROTHERTIGER x HOTEL POOLS - PARADIGMS

“Hotel Pools was born because I was tired of having to deal with other people controlling my output,” Ben explains. “When the project was born in 2018, I was just putting demos on Soundcloud — totally grassroots, and it just kind of connected with an audience. I leaned into making the music I wanted to make, having the artwork made that I wanted made, working with who I wanted to work with, and kind of shunning the industry to a certain degree.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, John was honing his craft in New York and building a name for Brothertiger on the assemblage of music blogs that defined 2010s music discovery. Platforms like Bandcamp, Soundcloud and Myspace presented a refreshingly straightforward alternative to the record label route, offering more creative autonomy and deeper relationships with fans.

But after years of writing, producing, and releasing their own music, both artists found themselves yearning for creative kinship.

“Being an independent solo artist, I’m so used to working by myself, and I know Ben is too,” says John. “But the past two years, I’d been thinking it would be cool to collaborate with someone whose music I really like who is also a solo artist who shares a similar vision and sound.”

John reached out to Ben, Ben sent over a demo, John added lyrics. Immediately, both artists felt struck by not only the fluidity of the working relationship but the comfort they felt in each other’s artistry.

“Lyrics started coming to me the second I heard the demo,” says John. “I had this idea of someone who’s far out at sea, not because they are lost, but to be alone with their thoughts. It touches on loss and how a human is meant to process it, if there is a right way. When I sent the song back to Ben, he told me about how he had just lost his brother and how this song affected him because of that. From that moment, we knew we had to continue making music together.”

That first track became “Black,” a sleek and moody gateway into an album that pulses with equal parts loneliness and self-possession. The pair traded demos back and forth, tinkering with stems and writing lyrics until the album came into view. Artistic ego was surprisingly absent, and roles were delineated naturally — John handled lyrics and vocals, Ben spearheaded much of the production, and the resulting album feels remarkably native to both musicians.

When two established artists put their heads (and their extensive vintage synth collections) together, the music they make will always be more than the sum of its parts. For Brothertiger and Hotel Pools, collaboration was a reminder to relish the creative process and find solidarity with other independent musicians.