On The Lost Riots, Hope of the States debuts with tragedy on their shoulders. In midst of recording the album, founding guitarist James Lawrence was found dead in the studio as a result of an apparent suicide. Do not, however, write this album off as merely pieces of suicide notes because of some lamenting lyrics like "I carry sadness on my back/I lose I know I always will" and the end of the world artwork on the cover; the major theme of the album is hope, as the band name suggests. Hope of the States moved beyond the tragedy of Lawrence's death by keeping the band and the songs they recorded with producer Ken Thomas (of Sigur Rós fame) intact.
Hope of the States initiates their debut with a violin sawing alongside the intense thrashing of electric guitars in "The Black Amnesias." The song captures the most poignant sections of the album without using a single word. It is hard to believe that the same band plays on "Enemies/Friends;" they sound extremely mediocre, because here the band underplays their instruments. Sam Herlihy's vocals cannot provide the epic crescendos and lushness that the band does create so well with their instruments on other tracks. This song places them somewhere in between the piano pop of Keane and the melancholic whine of Starsailor. Herlihy attempts to create an anthem out of the song with the militaristic drumming and inspirational lyrics, "come on people/keep your friends close/your enemies won't matter in the end;" he sounds, nonetheless, uncommitted even at the most soaring points of the song.
They redeem themselves in the middle of the album with one of their singles, "Black Dollar Bills." As one of the longest tracks on the album, it has an expansive sound that emits from the emotional turbulence formed by the intense instruments. The guitarists use an interesting effect that makes the high pitch of the guitar resembles the sound of a woman singing opera over the striking piano. Herlihy sings only a few lines in the song before the band upstages him. It seems the less he sings, the better the track is, simply because it allows the musicians to spread out and explore a more grandiose sound.
The more I listen to The Lost Riots, the more I see hope emerging from the album. Yes, there is a sense of mourning, but hope underlies most of the drawn-out tracks. Herlihy's vocals are noted as "cracked/troubled/joyous/hopeful" in the liner notes and perhaps this description presents the album in the clearest light. Hope of the States hits all these emotions throughout their debut with several rough spots in between.
