Now That’s What I Call Hope Fest (Vol. 4)
A musical preview of tracks we love from Hope Fest 2023 artists.
Once upon a time there was an album called The Symmetry of Autumn Leaves. It was made by Perennial and came out in 2017 on limited-edition pink vinyl. Then a darkness spread over the land, five seasons of failed crops, swarms of cicadas, a sharp-toothed monster roved about the countryside eating up children while they slept innocently in their beds. A task was bestowed on the artpunk twosome Chelsey Hahn and Chad Jewett to cleanse the land, remove the curse, and slay the beast. They did it how most heroes do it. By taking five songs off their original album, reworking them in the studio, and releasing them as a new album titled The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry in 2023. Available in teal or black vinyl.
5ever
5ever, no-holds-barred pop punk. Extra points for the Mario Sunshine shout out on our highlighted track “Aliso Creek Bonfire Circa 2010”. That was the one where Mario had to solve every problem with a waterspray backpack. Frustrating as hell to maneuver. Possibly one of the worst installments of the 3D Mario adventures, but the game still has its diehard fans. Hey, sometimes people like things just to have something to like.
Hyber
Our highlighted track “Ghost” packs a lot of punch for a trio. Hyber sounds like an entire symphony of sound when the refrain kicks in! A kind of full bore Evanescence gallop that sweeps you off your feet and sucks you up into the revolving eye of the rock n roll cyclone. But what catastrophic weather event would be complete without the halcyon finish? You can imagine the trio in the studio hitting that last note in synch, letting it ring out in unison, and mouthing mutely to each other: “Nailed it…”
Ezra Cohen
We love a good storytelling song, and Dover’s Ezra Cohen sits you down to tell the story of “Lee and Maria”. Star-crossed summer lovers? Perhaps. The medium tempo shuffle layers electric on acoustic for a big, warm sound. Is that a mandolin we hear on top? Before you can name all the instruments the ephemeral fling runs its course and, like a great song on its final measure, leaves you wanting more. Maybe next August. Shout out to Whiskey Jim’s. Ezra Cohen appears with The Big City Band at Hope Fest 2023.
Jiddo
Apropos of the title, a meandering guitar line threads its way through the first 30 seconds of our highlighted track “Ambivalence” by Jiddo. That’s a hard quality to generate musically. We’re conditioned to think of music as falling into either one of two polarities: composed or improvisational. But surely there’s an expansive internecine zone in which, like automatic writing, the notes are neither grabbed nor given. Shades of the middle voice in ancient Greek. Shades of Modest Mouse.
TIFFY
Weezer vibes in that opening riff. No surprise, the once-upon-a-time Los Angeles band (whose best album was the Blue album) loves power pop riffery, and TIFFY does too. In the live show the Boston-based band goes big, employing three guitars, maybe more. Could the world withstand that many guitars playing hooks as powerful as the one leading the way in our highlighted track “I’m No Equipped For This”? We’ll have to find out at Hope Fest.