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Hospitality: Tiny Desk Concert

The New York band Hospitality makes music that's unmistakably friendly and welcoming — it's hug-and-a-handshake pop that lives up to its name by jangling and chiming comfortably. The songs on the band's self-titled debut, out earlier this year, have a gliding quality to them that's immensely pleasing; Hospitality doesn't overwhelm so much as it wears listeners down with a subtle charm offensive.

As such, this three-song performance at the NPR Music offices is concise and unassuming, even muted. There's a shyness (and a wryness) to Amber Papini's voice that doesn't usually come unamplified — she practically has to lean forward to be heard — but Hospitality's songs have a way of digging in virtually undetected. To spend 10 minutes with the band is to be won over almost subliminally, so why not turn Hospitality loose on your unsuspecting brain?

Set List:

  • "Sleepover"
  • "The Birthday"
  • "Betty Wang"
  • Credits:

    Producers: Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton; Editor and Videographer: Michael Katzif; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; photo by Emily Bogle/NPR

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)