“I still believe in the magic trick. I still believe in our one big hit”  (Ripples Rock My Boat)

Before I launch into this review and tell you how great this album is please do one thing for me. Just above this review is a button called “Northernline radio”. Yes in case you hadn’t noticed we have our own radio station!!! Well, sort of. Go to the button, click play, scroll along till you come to the Hope & Social track “Ripples Rock My Boat“ and listen to it as you read the review. They should take about the same length of time. By the time you get to the end you should be convinced to go to their site and download the whole album. http://www.hopeandsocial./com Like their previous releases it is “pay-what-you-want” so if you’re not sure just download it for free. Then go back when you’ve fallen in love with it and give them your life savings. You cannot lose.

“We’ll count our blessings and lucky stars, they’ll soon outweigh these heavy hearts” (Ripples Rock My Boat)

It would be wonderful if Hope & Social did have a big hit and achieved the fame their talent deserves. But then again it might turn them into this years Coldplay or worse still, Snow Patrol. We wouldn’t want that now would we? So I think they should count their blessings and realise that people genuinely love these songs and their band and all the record sales in the world cannot make up for that. This is a superb album which gets better and better with each play. Every time I hear it a different song stands out and a piece of lyric grabs me that I had missed on the other countless plays. I have lived with this for a good few weeks. Putting off my review until I was sure I knew which tracks were the best and which needed a bit of a push. Well, I still haven’t decided which is my favourite and I genuinely love every single track. Marching on Through is my favourite today. It conjures up images of brass bands and marching soldiers. It is a stomp through the towns and cities of our pleasant land. Which other song mentions Hartlepool, Ripon, Brighton & Hove and East Lincoln streets? It builds and builds to a crescendo like an imaginary band getting closer and closer and then disappearing down the road. It could close Glastonbury main stage quite easily. Like Elbow before them Hope & Social write songs that grow in the heart not the head.

Opening track April is a lovely lilting lament about a girl or about the month? We don’t know or need to know. Strings add to the sense of beauty the song conjures up. Then straight into the first stomper; Pitching Far Too High. A lot of the tracks stomp along to the groove of a train or marching feet. Eurospin reminds me of an Oompah band and those nights at college spent throwing beer over each other whilst some bloke from Bradford dressed in leather shorts pretended he was German. Still with me? Hope & Social write songs that are uplifting, personal and universal. Follow You Into is another classic. Building and falling like waves crashing on a beach. Did I say I love this album?

It’s like Arcade Fire, Elbow, The E Street Band and Mumford & Sons (especially on A Darkness Now is Coming) all playing in your back yard. Hope & Social are a real band, playing real songs, for real people. They don’t need a big hit. They don’t need a record company with thousands to spend on promoting them. They just need your ears, your heart and eventually your soul. On this Pentecost Sunday let the spirit take you. Go get the album. Go see them play. Do it before its too late and you’re trying to get tickets off e-bay for their arena tour!!!!! http://www.hopeandsocial.com/

By peter on May 23, 2010