Beautiful Targets

Their latest offering, produced by Bill Racine (Rogue Wave, Mates Of State) and Max Avery Lichtenstein (Camphor, Mercury Rev) and recorded in the band's beloved upstate New York wilderness, showcases a band at the height of their creativity. Somewhere within the anthemic, soaring strings of Tree, the pop prowess of Bethlehem, and the whirling maelstrom of Windy Day, the band makes it clear that they are serious about outdoing themselves, genuinely determined to make lasting, genre-defying music, and, in the end, positively out to break the listener's heart. Accordingly, Beautiful Targets finds Hopewell perfecting their inherent and recurrent gift for drama. Characters in the albums loosely connected narrative are often human to a fault, both clashing and rejoicing as the music threatens to overwhelm them, then veering off into unexpected tenderness at the last minute. Where their previous efforts honored turmoil and chaos, this is the sound of a band who has survived and managed to make something beautiful out of their struggle.