Lacrimas Profundere - Hope Is Here

"Hope is Here" is a concept album, following the plights and experiences of a special young boy alone in a forest. The storyline doesn't jump out and grab you; there are few spoken-word or sound effects sections to advance the narrative, a la "The Wall" or "Operation: Mindcrime," so this could easily pass as a standard record of assembled, loosely-connected or unconnected songs.

This album took me by surprise. I spun up track 1, ‘The Worship of Counting Down’, planning to just get a sample, but twenty-five minutes-or-so later, found myself on track 8, still listening. This is primarily because the dip in enjoyment never came - - one song after the next continued the sustained pleasant audio experience. Another reason for this smooth ride is the safeness of the music.

The production, song structures, and melodies take few chances, never get too jagged or experimental, never stray too close to the edge. In most cases for lesser bands, this would lead to predictability and death-by-boredom, but not so for Lacrimas Profundere on "Hope is Here." I don't want to misrepresent this as the equivalent of the Bunny Slope; the songs and tones are structurally basic, but challenge with power of emotion and thrills at their own measured level. Speaking of powerful emotion, the closing track, ‘Black Moon’ is grand enough by itself to justify the entire album. The stirring piano line, reminiscent of Massive Attack's ‘Teardrop’, blends with the simply strummed guitar and understatedly passionate vocals to create something ascendant. The song is simply greatness in musical form. The procession of good pieces preceding it seems to have been compiled to lead to this quiet, perfect climax.