Hope of the States

A State of Hope

They’ve just signed a £750k deal with Sony and they’ve got a lot to prove, these young men. That’s a lot of faith and hope to be put into them, but it’s going to be worth the gamble.

On a relaxed and confident vibe for their first instrumental exploration into melancholic mood, they give us a chance to check them out visually first. When the singer finally gives voice, it’s exactly how you’d expect it to be. Relaxed, loquacious and raw.

Musically, they invoke the current era of emotive generations from the Radiohead school of 'doing something different'. Rich, hypnotic and melodic in a style that evokes as much Portishead and post-Waters Pink Floyd as it does more direct comparisons, such as Doves.

The surprising use of an electric violin underlines their sound quite succinctly, creating a stronger structure that’s as emotive as it is elegant. HOTS rely on their music alone to express themselves. Not what can be sung, but more what can be sincerely felt by putting their feelings into musical form.

They just ‘get it’ and their ability to write simple chord progressions that blend so smoothly is because of their natural partners and instinct for what works rather than experimental desire. There is nothing whimsical about this band; they just offer extraordinary power-pop the way Coldplay might if they could play faster and turned the guitars up a touch.

‘The Last Picture Show’ is for the rain that hasn’t yet come, despite their assurances to us in the press that they’ll bring it with them, but as they say this, the first drops of water fall from the sky like a wry curse from the spirits over in the stone circle. It’s fractured and tactile, anthemic, ballsy, jangly, let’s face it, huge stuff.

They just don’t come across like they should be sounding this enormous, but they are. It’s all so achingly sincere when they admit that they cannot believe so many people turned out to see them, and that’s refreshing to experience.

Watch for them on the t-shirts of next year’s students.

Paul Mills

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