Hope Of The States - Black Dollar Bills

by Anthony Strutt

published: 6 / 5 / 2003

Label: Select Label
Format: CDS

Impressive limited edition debut single from new Chichester group Hope of the States, who "sound like a second generation Slowdive"

Review

Despite their name, Hope of the States are not American, but come from Chichester. I don't often like new bands, but I fell in love with this one. For me, they sound like a second generation Slowdive. They feature a violin player and they also sound like a noisy Coldplay. 'Black Dollar Bills' is their first single. Limited to 1000 copies, it is wrapped in a cloth cover which quickly gets covered in dust. The title track has a killer tune and features piano playing that is as good as Coldplay's Chris Martin and also some shoegazing guitar lines that go on forever. How many debut singles have you heard that go on for over seven minutes ? The song starts to fade after six minutes, and then is finished with some beautiful playing of the type that might appear on a Tindersticks record. 'Everything for Everyone' sounds a little like Radiohead, as well as again Coldplay. It is drowned in violin and again features some lovely piano playing. The last track 'Sts Ikel'is a beautiful moody instrumental with a violin that crys like a lost child. Absolutely fab !