My new single – ‘Carrier Hotel (2023 Remaster)’ – released on January 27th, 2023.
New music video now available! – https://youtu.be/ZWJiD3Nphvc

This song is called Carrier Hotel. Carrier hotels are large facilities located in some large cities in NA, like Toronto & NYC, where data communications media and providers (like Bell or Rogers) come together. CBC Radio’s Ideas. Inspired by a metaphor… The carrier hotel as a setting in a hard boiled detective story about shifting your identity in the cloud and becoming someone else for convenience and fantasy. All the while every move you make is piped through the web of wires housed in these carrier hotels. Not secret at all. We have no secrets in the networked world. There is a data echo for every move you make. A digital artifact for every facet of your identity, every crumb, that you leave in the fibre optic pathways.

Identity and how the internet and social media gives people the ability to become shape shifters and become someone else: flip side is the dangers of that: surveillance, isolation, dislocation (if shaping identity through make believe world – are you really connected into/present in your real world?).

Want to hear a blend of folk-rock, #synthwave, #darkwave, and hard-boiled detective story? My next single is a remaster from my back catalogue. Co-written with long-time musical collaborator Ron Kenji, ‘Carrier Hotel’ has shades of #darkwave and #cyberpunk.

Here’s what Ron Yamauchi (my co-writer) had to say about the song…

I remember you had the introduction. We tried it a couple of ways, then hit on a damped guitar sound in the verse. The chorus grows into a jangle of guitars and synths, which might have been triggered by the subject of the song, having been exposed to William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk stories and the sound of darkwave around the same point, the late 80s. It’s one of those songs that felt effortless at least on my end of it

Here’s what John Flatman (my videographer) had to say about the making the video…

It was an honor to work with Kele again on another of her meaningful songs and translate it into video. I’m truly grateful that she allows me utilize my ideas in her work and to interpret her songs according to what I see. When I first listened to Carrier Hotel, it gave me a sense of being taken on a journey through someone else’s eyes, which inspired the direction of the theme for the video. I wanted there to be a sense of mysterious transience, open interpretation, and constant movement in the video. I also wanted the audience to be primarily guided by the lyrics in the video, rather than showing a literal interpretation of them, and for the viewer to create their own parallels and conclusions based on simply walking with the main character. The journey of the main character brilliantly played by Rebecca Dale, follows her through the streets of Victoria where I have always had a nostalgic fascination for how the city has changed over the years. I wanted to capture as many colourful landscapes as I could both during the day and in the evening, to serve as a time capsule to show how the city may change over the years. Much like the character is seeking a new identity or experience in the Carrier Hotel, the city also yearns for constant change.The one limitation I put on myself prior to starting this was that I didn’t want to show anything related to modern technology used for communication (i.e. modems, computers, cell phones etc). So, when I found this picture of pigeons (perhaps they’re carrier pigeons), I had a whole bunch of ideas. The first was the symbolism of the carrier pigeons and how they tie into the idea of what a modern “carrier hotel” is and how carrier pigeons were used to send messages and carrier hotels are used for (among other things) sending messages on the internet. The second was I had the idea to have your name and the song made to look like it was painted onto the side of the building like it was a hotel sign from yesteryear. Lastly, the way the birds are perched created this perfect space to create the painted look within, creating a natural frame of sorts.

 

Written by Kele Fleming and Ron Yamauchi
Recorded and mixed Brent Cross at The Grizz Studios
Mastered by Andrew Downton, Railtown Mastering
Video by John Flatman, starring Rebecca Dale

Vocals – Kele
Guitars – Kele
Epic lead guitar – Ken Schroeder
Keys – Ron
Mandolin – Ron
Bass – Ron
Drums – Tony Lee