Making their musical debut, The Hospital's EP Trying To Fall Asleep takes on life's rawest feelings with a dream-like quality. The up-and-coming London based band collaborates the talents of Marcelo De La Vega and Dillon Scott-Lewis to create songs that feel equally nostalgic and ever-relevant.
Poignant songwriting set to bright melodies, all four songs on the EP capture the juxtapositions of 21st century living. The things that keep us up at night, whether the inner workings of our minds or the desire to feel alive, trying to sleep it all off and not being able to drift away. Each song speaks to the fast-paced, emotionally driven, vivid days of youth, with lyrics that are easy on the ear, but at times confronting to hear.
Not only does their sound have a kind of early 2010's indie-pop vibe, but their attitude towards music does too; with a paired back, casual virtual presence that feels like the early days of the internet. Back when you could organically stumble across something great, rather than having it shoved in your face.
'Won't Waste My Time On You' has been stuck in my head since I first heard it, and is reason enough to start listening to The Hospital. It opens Trying To Fall Asleep with feelings of defiant freedom, cutting old ties and letting loose. We hear the becoming of someone who has outgrown their current situation and the rebirth that ensues. Upbeat and full of life, this song unburdens itself while situating the listener within a place where there is endless potential for what's to come.
If there was a song that feels like being 17, it's 'Hot Pink Cappuccino', (or at least it feels like my experience of being 17). It captures that teenage dichotomy of acting like an adult, but being stuck in a life of school nights, parents opinions and grandma's pocket money. That sickly desperation to do more, feel everything and experience life completely. It takes the mess with the magic and pours it all into hazy instrumentals and lucid lyricism.
Plummeting into an outpour of emotions 'I Don't Wanna Sleep Alone' sounds like the late night journal entries of a troubled mind. It relays the endless monotony of tormented sleepless nights, the ongoing aches of life that keep us up at night. The lines, "my nights are full of waiting on a dream, my days are full of trying to fall asleep" are so upsettingly honest and aggressively relatable, they make me wish I had these songs when I was younger, so at least I would have had a soundtrack to my insomnia.
Then, opening like the call of the morning, 'Take My Breath Away' dawns with a new lease on life. Hailing "I've never been more awake" this song feels equally like a cinematic ending and a sunny new beginning. As a new love becomes something worth staying up for, all the agony of the previous song is offset by sentiments of "I like myself when I'm with you". It is a beautiful ending to a story told across an emotive, thoughtful, and cleverly crafted debut EP.
Stream now and keep an eye out for what The Hospital has in store...
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