You can’t really ever go wrong with some good rock music, so we’re delighted to be sharing with you a fresh new banger from Michigan outfit The American Hotel System.
‘Can You Hear It?’ is taken from the band’s EP of the same name (out now), and is the type of song that is sure to energise and motivate you. In many ways, it’s the perfect weekend anthem, and one that deserves to be on everyone’s playlists!
C.S. Lewis frequently explored ‘Sehnsucht’ (a German word encompassing wistful, yearning desires) in his addresses, essays, and fictional works like Narnia and The Space Trilogy.
Lewis understood that our souls are created with a longing for something beyond this world—a “music we are born remembering.” Often, we mistakenly label these longings as nostalgia or beauty, but they merely hint at a deeper desire. Lewis writes, “The beauty, the memory of our own past… are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited.”
Discovering the concept of Sehnsucht felt like a missing puzzle piece fitting perfectly within my heart, providing language to describe the profound yearnings I’ve carried throughout my life. I’ve been searching for a melody I cannot sing. I firmly believe that by paying attention to the echoes of these longings within my soul, I draw closer to the joyous life I was created to live (“my soul awakens when I hear the sound played on my heartstrings; this joy profound”).
The American Hotel System have had quite the ride so far. They opened for rock legends Bon Jovi on their 2022 tour, and have also received a seal of approval from iconic tastemakers CLASH magazine.