claire rousay and Martyna Basta announce collaborative album, hotel room

hotel room follows a short residency in Kraków in 2023, where the pair spent a few days exchanging ideas and making plans for their first collaboration. They initially intended to create lengthy, expansive pieces, but also experimented with shorter numbers. The resulting work captures both extremes, featuring three long-form tracks and three brief songs.

"It wasn't something we specifically planned," Basta says. "It just unfolded that way." Today, "cool girls go to heaven" offers a new glimpse into the world that rousay and Basta have developed.

The most important stage of the process behind hotel room followed the residency, when rousay and Basta began working on sketches in isolation, working on drafts independently before rousay completed the final mix. The music itself is assembled from field recordings, spectral voices, electronics and filtered instrumental improvisations.

The title reflects rousay and Basta's hectic touring schedules, the constant feeling of displacement and the emotions that emerge when the environment is in flux. "I know we aren't the only musicians travelling and creating work at the same time," says rousay, "but being able to speak about that experience and all the things that come with it was comforting."

hotel room artwork

hotel room tracklist

"zoom"
"the single pure thing left"
"lost and found"
"denim"
"where are you now"
"cool girls go to heaven"