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An album release from Hope Darling Hits a Vast Rock Tonality

A full album release from Hope Darling delivers a sort of welcoming and almost anthemic brand of alternative and indie rock that comes through with a brightness and vivacious approach that certainly leaves its mark.


The Enso album is riddled with personality and this sort of vigor that lets the band's presence shine as a whole.


This is the type of record that you listen to all the way through. Listening to one or two tracks may give you an idea of what you can expect from some of the rest of the record, but it won't give you the full spectrum of what the full album has to offer.


There are plenty of surprises around the corners, inventive riffs, and sing-along choruses that you don't want to miss.


The first track on the record, "Burning Light", is a pretty perfect example of exactly that. The track offers those big and robust choruses, powerhouse vocals, and an almost cinematic sort of vastness that exists in the song's underbelly.


Again, although these are some of the great staples that you'll hear throughout the record, you have to listen to this thing from start to finish to really soak it all in properly.


Tracks like "Lifeline" offer different approaches, still with that cinematic backbone, but you get a crazy vocal range, and some outstanding progressive guitar work that really feeds into the aesthetic and atmosphere that the record delivers.


This is a record that absolutely gives you a huge atmosphere, and it does that with this sort of driving sonic presence.


The guitar tones play a key element in this whole thing. The tones of the guitars are always sort of edgy, a bit heavy, but they're very melodic and have a graceful approach because the entire record has an almost dream-rock undertone to it.


Although songs can get heavy in a way, they also invite you to float alongside them.


As I mentioned before, this is a record you'll end up singing along with by the second time around.


This is a hands-in-the-air, sing-along kind of record, and it's got a lot of harder-hitting stuff along with more calm and subtle approaches that blend together to build something unique.


There are also elements of dance rock. Songs like "Firefight" give you a heavy-handed groove that you can dance along with, as well as that vibrant energy that fluctuates throughout the record.


Yes, this album has that brilliantly fluctuating energy throughout it, but a lot of these songs hold true to the air of a live performance in a sense.


This is one of the things I adore about the record.


To an extent, some of these songs feel like they were recorded live on the floor and then added to later on. You get the sense that everyone involved was just feeding off of each other's energy throughout the recording of this whole album, and that gives the record the feel of being alive and breathing anyway.


By the time you get halfway through this album, you begin to expect the unexpected ever so slightly. You know you're going to get that anthemic and impactful soundscape, always with that spacious undertone, but you know there's going to be some inventive songwriting as well.


I think what hits the most is that personality that comes through. The vocals are wonderfully performed. The energy balance is and matches the music perfectly, and at times, the vocals can be used almost like an instrument themselves, while others are on the forefront delivering those powerhouse choruses.


You also find yourself paying attention to a lot of the lyrics, which tell stories, at times from very personal perspectives, so you find yourself connecting with certain songs as well.


There are a lot of layers to soak in with this record, and it feels amazing to do just that.


It's an easy album to get engulfed in, and although certain tracks do display those staples you'll hear, listening to the record all the way through is the best way to soak it in because this is a record meant to be heard in its full form.


I come from a day when people released albums. Even if you heard a song on the radio, you go and buy that record for the one song you heard. You still go home and play that full album, though. When you did, you got an experience.


This is an album that does the same. It delivers an experience.


It felt good to hear a record like that again.


I think this record speaks volumes for the band and how they're able to let their presence push through and leave songs that are impactful, cinematic, character riddled, storytelling, honest, and sonically gleaming.


This was an awesome combination of genres and it came through exactly the way it was intended to.


Again, listen to this full record. It's only 40 minutes long, and you have that time.


This is a great escape that you can pop on and let it pull you away from whatever you are doing to take a deep dive into their sonically huge and vast rock sound.


Check this out right now, you won't regret it.


Official Website - www.hopedarling.com


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