Rating: NNNN
If you can get past Sam Herlihy’s wimpy voice, you’ll find in Chichester, England’s Hope of the States a climactic sound that harkens back to the grandeur of the Who while venturing deeper than Radiohead into the dystopic alt-rock wilderness. But this buzz band is not just sweeping symphonies that plunge into periods of despair. At the thumping heart of this album, crisply produced by Sigur Rós twiddler Ken Thomas, a wide-lensed panorama of the American political landscape threatens to bowl listeners over with rock-solid lyrical substance. Hope of the States conquer Lee’s Palace Monday (October 4)
