Biography
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Hope For Agoldensummer is a 5-piece living
and working in the fine towns of Athens and Atlanta, GA.
A junkyard orchestra. An anarchist soul choir. They create
rusty, gutter angel melodies in a sweaty, old, yellow house.
This family has been together for 2.5 years, and each member
continues to grow and develop the talents necessary to create
the desired sounds. All five members play a variety of instruments:
slide guitar, cello, eclectic percussion, xylophone, singing
saw, piano and coke bottles. The defining trait of the band
lies in the frighteningly beautiful vocals, which are executed
primarily by vocalists Claire and
Page Campbell. As sisters, their voices are similar enough
to mesh with each other flawlessly, yet they are different
enough to represent two distinct approaches to the material
at hand. The instrumentation relies heavily on Will Taylor’s
fancy cello stylings and the tasteful brush work of drummer
Jamie Shepard.
Deb Davis is their Johnny-on-the-spot, maneuvering from
accordion to guitar to xylophone.
"The music is emotional without being maudlin, honest
without being tritely sentimental. The power of Davis' guitar
walkabouts are just as full of pathos as any of the words
that erupt from the Campbell sisters' throats. And in addition
to being physical, intellectual and emotional, [the music]
resonates on a higher, overarching plane - simply put, it
has soul. And hell, maybe it even has a soul, that's how
vivid it is, how honest. It's completely human music."
- Flagpole Magazine 2005
Hope was recently described as Atlanta’s “Best
Organic Experience” by the Creative Loafing Newspaper:
“ Kudos to Athens outfit HOPE FOR AGOLDENSUMMER…
Fronted by the sisters Campbell, this troupe plays everything
from traditional guitars to less frequent tools like cheese
graters and Coke bottles. On their debut, I Bought A Heart
Made Of Art In The Deep, Deep South, Hope For Agoldensummer
balances the beautiful harmonies of the Campbells with a
multi-layered symphony of eclectic instrumentation. It’s
transcendent, it’s DIY, it’s divine and it’s
totally enviro-friendly.”
Their first album, I Bought A Heart Made Of Art In
The Deep, Deep South , was recorded on tape over a
span of 1.5 years in Commerce and Cabbagetown, GA. The album
is packaged entirely in 100% PCW recycled paper and printed
with soy-based ink by a worker-owned press in Oregon, USA.
Team Clermont handled national radio promotion this past
Winter.
Heart Of Art was named the #1 local album
of 2004 by Flagpole Magazine (Athens, GA) putting
them in the company of heavyweights like Drive-By Truckers,
Now It’s Overhead, Vic Chestnutt and Of Montreal.
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Instrumentation
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click to hear
audio mp3s
Malt Liquor
Midwest
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Claire Campbell
:: vox, slide guitar, singing saw, accordion, clarinet ::
Page Campbell
:: vox, guitar, found percussion ::
Deb Davis
:: guitar, accordion, xylophone ::
Will Taylor
:: cello', penny whistle, banjo ::
Jamie Shepard
:: trap drums, concertina, marimba ::
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Reviews
"Sisters Claire and Page Campbell sing about God
and heartbreak like they're drunk on their own glorious
harmonies and have all the time in the world. If you're
looking for a manifesto, you could hardly do better
than to adopt the last lines of Hope for Agoldensummer's
"Laying Down the Gun": "Instead of stopping our hearts
we play music, because we're rock stars/ We come together
and we work and we fall apart/ I play music because
I'm in love with silence and sound/ Just like a machine
I picked up my pen and wrote this medicine down." As
the closing track on the Athens, Ga., quintet's self-released
debut, I Bought a Heart Made of Art in the Deep, Deep
South, it's a stunning summation of all that comes before.
Their shows build on that sense of intimacy and immediacy;
cellist Will Taylor is a grounding force as the others
swap xylophones, guitars and stories."
-Philadelphia City Paper 2005
“The vision of a godforsaken southern wasteland
Hope For Agoldensummer casts conjures images of humid
and buggy nights, small town cops drunk on the small
amount of power afforded to them, and heartbroken elderly
men with their mouths eroded by gum disease and their
livers destroyed after decades of drinking away loneliness.
Themes of regret, sorrow, and misery dot these tales
of missed opportunities and desperation heartbreakingly
packaged as hope… The music is weighty, bombastic…
Soulful and profoundly affecting art.”
- Southeast Performer Magazine 2004
“In the tradition of haunting, Southern
pastoralists Smoke and Cat Power, and the archaic folk-art
indigenous to Georgia’s verdant landscape, Hope
For Agoldensummer revels in slow-burning surrealism. The
groups debut… is a homespun affair that unfolds
without artificial barriers…
…a jeweled and gentle wind that balances soft and
unsettling tones.” Creative Loafing, ATL.
2004
“There aren't many records that make
me want to re-evaluate my beliefs about music and about
people. Thankfully, I've found a record that does. Hope
hails from the deep south and the music they make together
oozes the rustic, porch-swing spirituality that one might
expect, but with uncommon grace and warmth. This is family-made
music, right down to the honest-to-goodness sisters who
sit and sing and bring audiences to tears, and it follows
in that vividly southern tradition of families gathering
around to sing and commiserate and tell stories set to
song.” Brainwashed Brain 2004
“The band took the
stage amid a variety of instruments including guitar,
cello, drums (a unique setup of percussion pieces), xylophone,
concertina, saw blade, and more. Honestly, there are no
words to describe the immense talent of the players in
this band. Claire and Page traded vocal harmonies with
the loose precision that you might see in a pair of old
bluesmen singing on a front porch. There was no pretence
in this band’s performance at all, and this mood
had the effect of sucking in everyone in the rather sizeable
crowd. The songs all have the familiarity of a tune you’ve
known your whole life (and yet can never recall having
heard), but at no point do they sound derivative. Hope
For Agoldensummer is a band that should most definitely
be seen in concert; their talent cannot possibly be overstated.”
Southeast Performer 2004
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Communication
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