Mars Motel is an alternative/dream-rock band coming from Brooklyn, New York with a fully-immersive sound that is as eclectic as it is exciting. Bringing together the 90’s Britpop with the early 2000’s New York City rock scene, layered with their own dreamy-sound that echoes bits of Radiohead, The War on Drugs, and more.

Mars Motel officially formed back in 2017, when vocalist/guitarist Sarik Kumar was inspired and determined to bring back to life recently rediscovered demos from his senior year of high school ten years prior. Kumar sought out producer Tommy Eichmann at Mission Sound in Brooklyn, where they — naturally — did some re-working of the demos and turned them into five singles that would shape the future of the band.

Over the course of 2017 and early-2018, Mars Motel was releasing 90’s nostalgia and reverb, guitar heavy tracks that quickly caught the eye of the music listeners in their area. The band ultimately released The Eclipse Sessions in 2018, which contained a few of their previous singles, as well as two unreleased b-sides. After this release and many shows performed across New York City, it was time to write their debut album, Passenger X.

Produced and arranged by Kumar, the 8-song album was recorded at Virtue & Vice Studios with engineer Rocky Gallo in Brooklyn. The record is scheduled to be released sometime in late-2019 and showcase the bands significant, evolved growth as musicians. While there has been no additional information on this new album quite yet, Substream is excited to be teaming up with Mars Motel to premiere the album’s debut single, “Coming Up for Air.”

“This song is about an android-like being longing to be human and attempting an alteration,” Kumar tells Substream. “It captures the universal need for connection and the loneliness one can feel in being viewed as an outsider.”


You can keep up with the band on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.