Marching, brute force, slavish discipline, technocracy, and techno. Quintessential German clichés. Ironically though, whenever a German band is loved abroad, it is for these traits exactly. DAF, Kraftwerk, and Rammstein are prime examples. But can there be German pop music?
Imagine Portishead formed in Berlin today. Josef Beuys comes along, shreds the band with a coarse wire brush, and exhibits them in a dark, 100 foot high silo for the production of artificial icebergs. The
resulting Gesamtkunstwerk may well be a close approximation of Hope.
The first foreigners to fall in love with this burstingly emotional monster of a band were ALGIERS and IDLES, with whom the band toured extensively. („Hope have a soulful integrity that resides in a pounding resonance with chromatic washes that cut through a dark dark black; leaving you aghast.“ - Joe Talbot, IDLES).
Subsequently, the press at Eurosonic Festival celebrated Hope as the new, avant-garde pop miracle („Ballet mixes with Post-Punk better than you think“ - buzz.ie, „a monumental experience“ - NBHAP.com)
Their self-titled debut album was recorded by Olaf Opal (The Notwist) in the remains of an abandoned lung sanatorium to capture inn