Hopewell - Sunny Days 7"
(Zeal)
Hopewell is a Poughkeepsie, NY project of members of Mercury Rev. Their
strange folk-twinged space pop/rock has been steadily growing on me for the
past 2 or so years since their album Contact was released on Burnt Hair.
This 7" has one song from their forthcoming album on Priapus, The Curved
Glass. It's a very pleasant song with a pulsing guitar (or keyboard) loop,
pretty guitars with a little delay, and a keyboard melody, which is all
driven by a rhythm section locked in a tasteful groove. It ends in a really
cool noise freak out and is an exciting taste of the new album.
"Small Places (Egoless Mix)" is a remix of a song which was originally on
the wonderful Purple Balloon EP on Priapus. I'm not quite sure what the
differences are between the original and the remix (as they are extremely
similar), so I'm not going to attempt to describe in reference to the
original. It's a nice youthful song guided by a full strummed acoustic
guitar, a melodic picked electric guitar, a keyboard and the anthemic
sing-song vocals Hopewell has mastered, which is all held together by subtle
drumming.
The single serves as a good introduction to Hopewell and as a teaser for
the new album. Definitely try this 7" out if you've been thinking of
getting some Hopewell releases, because it's a good glimpse of the simple,
pretty pop they do so well.
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