CD Review: Hope of The States 'The Lost Riots'

For a band as young as Hope of The States, the last year has been almost too turbulent. Losing their founding guitarist and friend, James Lawrence, to suicide could easily make a band pull out while they just started. However, tragedy aside, their debut “The Lost Riots” has come as an encouraging introduction.

Opening with the cinematic instrumental, “The Black Amnesias” and the sharp yet sensitive vocals in “Enemies/Friends”, the English quintet build walls of pop guitar with the innocent vocals of singer Sam Herlihy as the binding glue.

Many songs make an impressionable first listening with the epic sounds of “The Red The White The Black The Blue” and “Sadness on My Back” where piano, string, guitars and vocals all come together with the volume turned up to an atmospheric eleven.

They’re not the next Radiohead, nor should they be weighed alongside them. Hope of the States have taken some risks in their musical arrangements and created a fine collection of 12 songs about love, hope and frustration. Their sharp, yet sensitive approach makes this an adequate debut release where the potential is waiting to come out of the woodwork.