Musical Style
The Paradise Motel's instrumentation typically features two guitars (acoustic and electric), bass, drums, Hammond organ, pedal steel, and occasional accompaniment from a string quartet. The group was considered to be "sonically adventurous" with their frequent deconstruction and reinterpretation of their own songs. Their aesthetic was one of sparseness and melancholia, punctuated by bursts of manic loudness; or, as they once said in an interview, "the violence and the silence". Their lyrical subject matter often veered towards the melancholy and macabre, which results in comparisons to Nick Cave, TV series Twin Peaks and Mazzy Star, as did Sussex's vocal style. Much of the Paradise Motel's songwriting came from Bickford, whilst Aulich was responsible for string and instrumental arrangement on most of their tracks. McFarlane summarised their description as "a cross between UK acts like Portishead and The Cocteau Twins, and the soundtrack to American television miniseries, Twin Peaks. Other comparisons thrown the band's way included Nico, Mazzy Star and The Cowboy Junkies. Add to that the band's existentialist lyrical angst and the members' penchant for wearing neat suits and ties, and it all added up to an arty, shimmering tableau".
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