Album Review

Flagpole Magazine 2004 (Athens, GA)

by Chris Hassiotis

HOPE FOR AGOLDENSUMMER

I Bought A Heart Made Of Art In The Deep, Deep South

Independent release

Stunning. Essential. Bandleader Claire Campbell's melancholic and uplifting voice attains heights only hinted at in past projects (this album makes Claire & Bain's Maple Yum Yum seems like a practice round). A stark, lonely whistle introduces plucked strings, only hinting at the full sounds to come. In fact, it's not until track three - Page Campbell's song "Midwest" - that Hope For Agoldensummer shows its true eclectic, folk-laden colors; Page's round, buoyant pronunciation of the word "certainly" lifts the ensemble into high-gear, and the odd harmonizing of the sister vocalists simultaneously comforts and unsettles.

Claire's reeling, woozy waltz "Religion" follows, and Hope For Agoldensummer wisely puts Will Taylor's droning cello out front. It's indispensable on a song like "Love Letter," written by guitarist Deb Davis; when Davis' six-string reaches the point of no return, the cello draws everyone back to safety. The song rages apocalyptic, as though Nick Cave's let loose his Bad Seeds. Atlanta's creaky Gothic rock ensemble Smoke also shows its influence.

But "Laying Down the Gun" reveals all final truths. It's as though each previous song, each the moments of grandeur and delicacy on the album point towards this one song, driven by Jamie Shepard's martial drumming, intricate chimes laid over sloppy percussive crashes and the sound of multiple voices speaking as one. Fifty minutes and nine seconds from the album's opening whistles, the music drops, the voices fade and the most impressive local debut in recent memory comes to a close. Several more minutes pass and I'm still sitting, hoping there's more.