Chime School - The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel (2024) [Hi-Res]

With his 2021 self-titled debut, Andy Pastalaniec’s Chime School became one of the defining acts of the seemingly never-ending, prolific and multifaceted Bay Area pop scene. Slumberland Records is thrilled to announce his sophomore LP, The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, is set for release on August 23.

Recorded by Pastalaniec himself, in his home studio on the foggy southern edge of San Francisco, Paisley Hotel sets a moodier tone; slowed and patiently unfolding in moments that highlight an evolution in songcraft, production and arrangement–while still bouncing along with the jangling drive Chime School fans have come to adore.

As its title implies, 30-plus years of UK indie pop’s deeper cuts are voraciously mined and refined on the 11-song release that fans of East Village, later Teenage Fanclub, and maybe even Northern Picture Library’s Alaska will devour.

But these songs are also very much rooted in the Bay Area of 2024, boasting both lyrical gestures to gentrification’s destruction, beloved shuttered bars and theaters, as well as a songwriting collaboration with SF native Mike Ramos, of Tony Jay/Flowertown fame, on the album’s penultimate song.

Cheekily-named opener, “The End,” starts with a strum of acoustic guitars, before bursting into Chime School’s characteristic 12-string jangle, then veering off into melancholy mid-tempo pop that East Village’s Kelly brothers should be proud to have influenced.

“Give Your Heart Away” shows off Pastalaniec’s evolution as a songwriter, gracefully moving beyond the confines of beloved records that have come before, and then stepping out and making his own.

Standout track “Wandering Song,” shares that same innovation, even as you hear a whisper of Gerry Love’s finest moments swirling beneath.

As the final atmospherics of Paisley Hotel’s closer “Points of Light” fade and you inevitably turn the record over for another listen, it's likely you’ll hear both subtle references you didn’t hear before, and also be left with a sense for this musician; how the journey of writing, arranging and recording each record elevates him to a new, fresh place you’ll want to follow, where we all hope Chime School keeps going.

- Jessica Beard