Psych rock is a mixed up genre. Ok, yeah it is spacey it technically rocks without really being rock per se. The part where i have issue is that sometimes these bands find it more interesting to write songs that don\'t go anywhere. They just stay locked in their moment in time and space never truly building on a riff or sound just floating. I\'m not saying it is all bad as a genre or that drugs have failed to make for good music ever but, the problem seems to occur when hippies do to many drugs and suddenly think their boring music is suddenly mind expanding and actually interesting to begin with.
Hopewell are slightly different than most of these bands as they write songs with actual structures. The guitar and keyboard / organ interplay is the key to the bands overall sound. On every song either one or the other takes the lead never meandering too far away from the original structure but always expanding away from it enough to keep the song moving. The guitarists use both effects and distortion tastefully and effectively never overusing the tools at their disposal. They control the pace never letting anything else get the better once they\'re given the lead spot. The keyboards and organs take the lead from time to time and manage to change the pace quite well. giving the listener a jazzy vibe and each song is made better for it as it helps to differentiate the overall sound.
Not to overshadow anything else the drums and bass are strong throughout the album. The bass rumbles through on occasion but rarely takes over the songs in any big way. This isn\'t really an issue as it remains strong and patient in the mix floating through when necessary. The drums never truly take over but make for a strong anchor to the guitars and keyboards. The vocals aren\'t particularly strong just calm and spacey providing another instrument rather than an actual lead of any sort.
This is a nice surprise. A Spacey Psych record that doesn\'t get pretentious. It resides as an enjoyable well played record that as strong as it is doesnt seem to takes itself to terribly serious. Have fun and space out to this one.
