*LIVE REVIEW*

Hope of the States @ ULU, London 10th October 2003

Sometimes it’s all about the violins. Hope Of The States’ violinist Mike is one of no less than eight people onstage for most of tonight, and somehow manages to drag the crowd’s gaze further towards him with every slide of his bow. Ruffled, cutely hobbit-like singer Sam stands centre-stage (OK, he sits at the keyboard on occasion) but as the band’s Top Of The Pops performance earlier this evening – sadly charisma-free under the harsh BBC lights – showed, he’s hardly the Great Rock Frontman his band’s music might kid you into believing in.

That said, it’s gratifying to see ULU overflowing with feathercuts and badge-festooned bags – especially for a band so early in their career – but on the evidence of impressive debut single proper "Enemies/Friends" alone, the attention is entirely justified. Hope Of The States have responded accordingly, resplendent in grand military dress jackets (bringing back unsettling memories of Mansun, but we’ll let that pass for now) and clearly determined to blow the hair off your head with sheer force of volume. There’s more than a hint of The Flaming Lips’ woozy psychedelia at work here, but bolstered by Ant & Jimmi’s duelling monster guitars and Sam’s burgeoning soulful vocals, Hope Of The States make a sound that’s all their own.

Even recurring technical problems – "Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong... I’m so sorry," intones Sam dolefully at one point – can’t stem HotS’ assault on the ears. They zigzag nimbly from dramatic racket to emotional slowburner like the live professionals Interpol hope to become, from opener "Black Amnesias" via the marvellous "Static From The City" and "Black Dollar Bill", right through to Sam’s solo encore of apparent cover version du jour, Tears For Fears’ "Mad World".

Couple this with tonight’s soundcheck rendition of "Love Will Tear Us Apart", as witnessed by a select handful of HotS' swiftly multiplying obsessive fans, and you’ll have some idea of their scope and goals: Hope Of The States, with their freewheeling melodic flair and already finely-honed grasp of dynamics and drama, are in it for the long haul, folks, and for this we can all be thankful.

Originally published on Playlouder October 2003