Hopewell closer to Polyphonic than Mates of State

Beautiful…Beautiful Targets Hopewell Tee Pee Records Rocks like: British Sea Power, The Shins, The Polyphonic Spree

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Combining whimsical lyrics and attempts at elegant indie rock strings and pianos, Hopewell’s Beautiful Targets offers fresh listening. But is the band worthy of comparisons to British Sea Power and Mates of State?

Bill Racine, producer of Mates of State, oversaw the production of Hopewell’s latest album, which is likely to excite fans of the ’80s-style, cute-rock band.

Hopewell shares the upbeat energy of Mates of State, with cheery piano parts filling the background and plenty of echo on the lead vocalist’s wide-ranging voice.

However, there’s no replacement for Mates of State’s Kori Garnder’s entreating voice. Instead, Jason Russo’s lead vocals have more in common with those of James Russel Mercer of The Shins fame.

He has a definite pop-style tone, but you don’t find the songs building much off of that.

Tracks like “In Full Bloom” and “All Angels Road,” suffer from odd violin and piano parts that come out of nowhere.

All is harmonious until violin and vocals come together on “In Full Bloom,” and the sound suddenly gets, well, weird: The progression of notes slides all over the place in what comes off as an attempt to create original sound without enough attention to the dissonance that ensues.

There’s a similar piano part in “All Angels Road” that sticks out unkindly, and Russo’s voice begins the song in what sounds like a lame attempt at vocalization.

This doesn’t destroy it: The sounds of the violins and pianos mix pleasantly during the rest of the track.

“Tree” offers a lot more substance: Although the beginning is a bit lackluster, it swells into an admirable mix of climbing guitar parts, smashing cymbals and string undercurrents.

“Over and Over” also offers up a great progression of strings from beginning to end with short, catchy guitar interludes.

With these two tracks, Hopewell is able to capture a more epic sound, reaching beyond the simple indie-pop ambitions of earlier tracks. In moments like this with its happiness on full blast, you could compare Hopewell to The Polyphonic Spree.

It’s probably not as sharp a comparison between Hopewell and British Sea Power.

The quick tempo and upbeat sound of both lend them similar tones, but the whispy vocals of Sea Power oppose the sharper cries of Hopewell.

The biggest difference to fresh ears, though, will be sections from Hopewell’s Beautiful Targets that just don’t seem to fit.

Russo is no stranger to the business: This is the band’s third album, and before they formed he was a part of Mercury Rev.

It seems that Hopewell has the skills to make a really moving album, and they even achieve that with a track like “Over and Over.”

However, it sounds like they need to learn more rules before they can really begin breaking them.