Clare-based singer/ songwriter DAVID HOPE released a critically-acclaimed debut (‘A Picture’) in 2007 and has since built up a reputation as one of Ireland’s hardest-working troubadours; gigging ferociously with or without his band The Henchmen and releasing two EPs – ‘Daybreak Someplace’ (2009) and 2011’s ‘Hell Or High Water’ – in the interim.
The latter, especially, was awarded heavy rotation round at W&H Towers and boded extremely well for this anticipated second LP, ‘Scarecrow’, which has been recorded in Limerick and West Cork, with production assistance from the renowned Declan Sinnott (Christy Moore, Mary Black) and a group of talented collaborators including Henchmen Eoin Jordan and David Murphy.
The album’s taken a while to piece together, but it’s been well worth the wait. Despite protracted sessions and different studios, the songs flow seamlessly. The tracks are live-sounding and spirited and the potent mixture of gritty, hard-edged folk-tinged pop and heartfelt acoustic balladry is a tribute to Hope’s versatile song-crafting skills.
The yearningly defiant ‘Hell Or High Water’ and the acerbic ‘Cloak & Daggers’ (“Talk is cheap and so am I/ I bought you plastic flowers, so they won’t die”) are already familiar from the last EP, but they’re only the tip of an imposing creative iceberg. Indeed, whether he’s attacking punchy pop/rock (‘Fall And Rise’, the infectious ‘These Days’ with its stabs of cool, Al Kooper-esque organ), shuffle-y Americana (‘See The Ghost’) or the courtly, romantic sway of ‘Daybreak Someplace’, Hope is never less than wholly convincing.
Elsewhere, he sources a broodingly attractive sense of atmosphere on both ‘Chasing Time’ and the title track. Both are dark, fatalistic affairs and the ghostly, Nick Cave/ Triffids-style folk-noir of the latter (featuring viper-ish pedal steel and Hope’s eeriest vocal to date) is enough to send shivers down the most resilient of spines.
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Great though all of these are, however, the album’s emotional heart beats within the three vulnerable acoustic ballads. Of these, the loss’ n’ experience-fuelled ‘Let Her Go’ (“when there’s no-one left to blame/ you know I couldn’t even say her name”) and the superb ‘Someone Else’s Mind’ are perhaps the most resonant of all. The latter, relating to the tragic suicide of one of Hope’s close friends (“Could be a storm behind the eyes/ smiles worn as a disguise and you can’t tell”) is deftly picked, beautifully realised and affecting beyond words. It’s a breathtaking full stop to place at the end of such a finely-wrought set of songs.
David Hope, then, is a name you will be hearing a lot more of. He’s a credit to sticking the course, doing it the old-fashioned, dues-paying way and reaping the benefit. If you thought you’d had your fill of fiery, emotional troubadours, then think again very hard. This guy’s very definitely here to stay.
David Hope online
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