Hot Dreams

Frontman Taylor Kirk left Ontario for Los Angeles to write the album and was inspired by his surroundings in the Laurel Canyon.[4] Not writing alone anymore – as they had on previous albums – the group focused more on a rock and roll trajectory with the new album, also making heavy use of vintage synthesizers and the mellotron.[5][6] The album was produced by Kirk and Simon Trottier. It was engineered by Graham Lessard at Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta and at Hotel2Tango in Montreal. Additional recordings were done by Trottier at the National Music Centre in Calgary and in Hull, Quebec with Olivier Fairfield.[7]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	80/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Consequence of Sound	B–[9]
Exclaim!	9/10[6]
The Guardian	[10]
The Independent	[11]
Mojo	[12]
NME	8/10[13]
The Observer	[14]
PopMatters	8/10[15]
Q	[16]

Hot Dreams was released to mostly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 19 reviews, which indicates a "generally favorable" reception.[8]

Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote, "While Hot Dreams is slightly less immediate than Creep on Creepin' On, its potent cocktail of menace, glamour, and vulnerability is nothing less than transporting."[1] Kerry Doole of Exclaim! wrote, "[Kirk] proves himself a master of melancholy, as on the Tindersticks-like "This Low Commotion" and the gentle "Run from Me," but he and his comrades inject enough dynamic range to hold your attention throughout."[6]

Notes

• "Curtains?!" features words by Simone Schmidt
• "Bring Me Simple Men" features words by Simone Schmidt