Hopewell
New York City, New York, United States
Music
Press
Hopewell’s sophomore record is heavy with ornate psych-rock flourishes, which was expected. What is surprising is how the meticulous beauty of songs like the “Synthetic Symphony” make the band’s ambitious take on late-era Beatles and early-70s Floyd sound so invigorating and bracing. Anthemic, inspiring, lovely and loud, Birds of Appetite easily qualifies as one of the best albums of the year.
- Mens Health
“Spearheaded by Jason Russo (Mercury Rev ties), Hopewell play that sweet-dream psych-pop, you know the kind that starts off slow and melodic, then gradually builds to something of epic proportions. Makes you wonder how they get from point A to point B so well while maintaining those high soothing vocals. This band rewards those of us who like to pay attention.“
- Village Voice
THETRIPWIRE.COM Hopewell knows how to get your attention. From the opening seconds of their new album, Hopwell & The Birds Of Appetite, you are showered with blasts of saxophone, trumpet, and that wonderfully distorted trademark drum sound of uber-producer Dave Fridmann. "Trumpet For A Lung" is an explosive opener, which is perfect for this eclectic psychedelic-pop record. Lead singer and founder Jason Russo's career got off to an amazing start at the age of 19 as a member of Mercury Rev. Now fronting his own band, he has composed songs that are both bombastic and beautiful. The irresistible second track "Calcutta" lies somewhere between Tripping Daisy and Jane's Addiction. "Praise Twice" is one badass rock track, teetering somewhere between classic Tom Petty and the finest prog rock money can buy. Yeah, this is a fucked up combination, but it really works. One of this album's highlights is "Synthetic Symphony", which starts off sounding like a tripped out dreamy track from the Beatles, building up to a gorgeous eruption of keys, sweeping guitars and soaring vocals. Few bands have the ability to utilize extreme dynamics, going from a gentle bass line to a maelstrom of squealing saxophones and storming guitars, but Hopewell does this with ease on the fantastic "Hello Radio". Then there is "Kings And Queens". Can you say indie-tastic Pink Floyd? Stripped down prog goodness has never sounded so good. Followers of Grandaddy will perk up when played "4 AM", with Jason Lytle-ish vocals over keyboard arpeggios and a hypnotic drum pattern. Fans of bands ranging from David Bowie to the Flaming Lips need to hear this record. Music this cinematic and brilliant doesn't come along often, so pay attention and enjoy every note of it. Now go close your eyes and go for a flight with The Birds Of Appetite. You're in for one hell of a ride. -Reviewed by Chip Adams - The Tripwire
“Hopewell's psychedelic pop is visceral and dynamic, yet unstable - meaning you never know when the noisy bits will suddenly squirm out of a sugary pop cloud that twists itself inside out, and implodes. A band to keep your earholes tuned to for sure. It's the baby of Jason Russo who did a stint in Mercury Rev - their forthcoming Birds of Appetite was recorded by Rev's Dave Fridmann.“ - Village Voice
“Uplifting, soulful, psychedelic rock…Welcome to Hopewell, the home of beautiful music.”
- Time Out London
“Hopewell's psychedelic pop is visceral and dynamic, yet unstable - meaning you never know when the noisy bits will suddenly squirm out of a sugary pop cloud that twists itself inside out, and implodes. A band to keep your earholes tuned to for sure. It's the baby of Jason Russo who did a stint in Mercury Rev - their forthcoming Birds of Appetite was recorded by Rev's Dave Fridmann.“ - Village Voice
“Breathtaking, dreamy psychedelic rock with a dark turbulence at it’s heart; the two elements tugging at each other until a music that is both disquietingly beautiful and emotionally powerful is all that remains.” - NME
“Hopewell treat their music with devotional respect – patently the sort of band who believe in its power to heal rifts, inspire visions, effect change. They are looking to build their own cathedrals. “
- NME
“Breathtaking, dreamy psychedelic rock with a dark turbulence at it’s heart; the two elements tugging at each other until a music that is both disquietingly beautiful and emotionally powerful is all that remains.” - NME
“Sublime, stabbing, psychedelia. There are moments of extreme grandiosity, crushing and immense, with billowing crescendos and flattening layers of feedback – but they are buffered by a sweet off-kilter romanticism. Hopewell have located the spot where the personal and universal intersect, rendering each moment both introspective and transcendental.”
- NME
“Hopewell add some hangover hazy honky-tonk grit to their spacey sprawl...the results are uniquely out of this world”
- Entertainment Weekly
“Sublime, stabbing, psychedelia. There are moments of extreme grandiosity, crushing and immense, with billowing crescendos and flattening layers of feedback – but they are buffered by a sweet off-kilter romanticism. Hopewell have located the spot where the personal and universal intersect, rendering each moment both introspective and transcendental.”
- NME
Discography
Contact 1997
Purple Balloon EP 1998
The Curved Glass 2001
Hopewell and the Birds of Appetite 2005
The Notbirds EP 2006
Beautiful Targets 2007
Good Good Desperation 2010
Photos
Bio
Purveyors of the new psych-rock scene, Hopewell has been blending vintage fuzz pedal jams with their early space rock and shoegaze roots for over a decade, their 2001 full-length, The Curved Glass, being the perfect, noisy bridge between the epic psychedelia of ‘90s acts like Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev and a newer generation of bands that include Dungen, Dead Meadow and Serena-Maneesh. Now back with their sixth album, Good Good Desperation effortlessly slips from cacophonous dueling piano passages, à la Stravinsky, to the Hammond-driven roots rock of The Basement Tapes, while creating something uniquely its own. From the opening vocal harmonies of "Preamble," which takes cues from the classical compositions of Bach and Debussy, to the CAN-inspired two-drummer tribal attack of "Island," listeners are confronted with expansive sonic images of a band's travels and conflicts. Good Good Desperation inhabits a world where “The Album” is not a lost art, and invites listeners on a journey from dirty downtown New York City scenes to blissful Californian deserts.
In between tours and throughout 2008 Hopewell set out to make a record that more captured their live sound. It was during this time that Jonathan Donahue invited the band to play a 30-minute segment of music on his WDST Woodstock radio program in upstate New York. For this show the group composed a structured improvisational piece, a composition loosely dubbed "The Opus," which would become the progenitor for many of the songs on the album to come. Immersed in heavy doses of bands like This Heat, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and early tribal Jane's Addiction, Hopewell booked time in local Brooklyn studios Seizures Palace and Seaside Lounge (home to great records from bands like Akron Family, Angels of Light and Psychic Ills) and set about recording their own work.
Good Good Desperation could easily be considered Hopewell’s Meddle or Tago Mago chapter in a lengthy history that includes countless singles and compilations, and opening for My Bloody Valentine on their recent reunion tour, working in the past with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), recording a Peel session live at Abbey Road Studio, and playing Reading and Leeds Festivals -- all without the help of a large label, manager or booking agent. With Good Good Desperation, Hopewell’s journey continues in a grassroots, homespun sort of way -- down their own noisy path.
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