Hope&Social - 'Electric Yorkshire' EP Review

Tracklist:

1. People Change

2. Over These Walls

3. East Coast Bays

4. Lay In The Long Grass With Me

5. Oh My Kid

I’m going to make no apology but I bloody love this band! You should too. Not only are they a lovely bunch of guys but they are talented to boot.

'Electric Yorkshire' is the result of a project that lost its funding so the band decided to finish it and release it anyway as a standalone EP. 5 tracks of pure feel good Pop, 'People Change' opens the EP with a ridiculously catchy hook on it. Si and the guys are not afraid to experiment with new ideas, new instruments, and new people. Their stage presence is that of a ramshackle making it up as we go along mistakes and all that endear them to the audience. I suspect this is just a front from a very tight band who know exactly what they are doing, my evidence for it? Just listen to their recorded music; it’s too well done for them to be rubbish!

'Over The Walls' is just magnificent, is that a sample of breaking glass in the mix? Could be! Wouldn’t put anything past them. Hope&Social manage to make every song sound like an anthem, I have no idea how they do that, each song seems to have urgency, a fragility about them that makes them precious.

'East Coast Bays' speeds things up a bit, group vocals, plenty of brass; I can see this being played live right now with a rapturous crowd lapping it up. It’s making me smile, something this band can always do. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and make us do it to. East Coast Bay' really is a tour de force, swirling organs, bright guitars, what more could you ask for?

After an abrupt halt the next track 'Lay In The Long Grass With Me' is a complete opposite slowing the pace right down. Si’s delicate vocals over a piano and gentle drums is something the band can do standing on their heads, they can make you laugh, they can make you cry, they can take you back to a place in time when everything seemed easier. That’s what this track does, but make too much noise and it’s gone, it’s so delicate.

'Oh My Kid' rounds of the EP, another gentle opener, my heart is soaring now, my mood is gently content, but a sudden movement could break that feeling. 'Oh My Kid' suddenly surges and it feels like my heart is going to break! Oh my days!

Hope&Social do things their own way, Electric Yorkshire is only available as a download on their Band Camp page, as with most of their music it’s pay what you want. But please pay as much as you can afford to keep such a beautiful band going! 5 out of 5 stars, but then you’d figured that out by now hadn’t you?