Hope and Social News and Announcements

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 1. Cotton Wool

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 2. Pitching

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 3. Caught in the Wake

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 4. April

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 5. Family Man

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 6. Living a Lie

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 7. Lighter Side of Life

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 8. Oh My Darling

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 9. Red Red Rose

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 10. Rolling Sideways

Cotton Wool and Knotted Wood: 11. Knotted Wood

Sleep Sound: 1. Sleep Sound

Sleep sound where you lay Sleep sound where you lay Entangle me in verses of poetry Avert my gaze from the darkest of darkest days There's nothing more to say Sleep sound where you lay Sing us songs of love And we'll listen to old 45s Sing us songs of peace And we'll dance and we'll sing through the night If tomorrow comes We'll thank God that we're all still alive If tomorrow comes Sleep sound where… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 2. Family Man

Riding through the streets of York, Stepping on the cracks we used to know. We'll wait up til all the hours, Rolling now the way we used to roll. I tingle and I'm tangled now, I'm wrapped in all the silver and the gold. I'll work it out in time I know, If time is something I can still afford. I'm a family man now, It could be all I know. I'm a family man now, I'll be home before you know. Tell me… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 3. Rolling Sideways

I've been down for seven days without my fields or songs of praise. (Rolling sideways, rolling sideways) Snuffling here in bed I lie with the TV as my only guide. (Rolling sideways, rolling sideways again) Maybe it's this blasted tincture but I see no real distinction, (Rolling sideways, rolling sideways) Between the bombs and the mass infection and the adverts selling loan protection. (Rolling sideways,… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 4. Cotton Wool

The bird out on the morning wire, The frost out on the lane, The faded light of cotton wool, That is where I've been Where starlings dance a centrifuge, Of love and lust and spring, Tumbling like a Rubik's cube, That is where I've been. Come on let me show you, How the fields will mould you, Any shape you want to... With every stride a slow release, Of fears and fails and needs. The first one feeds… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 5. Them Rolling Boys

Pick my feet up, Dust myself down, Look me in the eye. This reflection, On close inspection, Needs kicking into line. It's the northern temper, Blames the weather, For all our wrongs and woes. I've been guilty, Of glass half empty, When my cup overflows. I saw it on the mountain, I saw it on the shore, I saw it in the evergreen I'd never seen before. I saw it in the starlight, I saw it in the way,… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 6. Swaddled in Dark Clouds

(With a nod to Philip Larkin) As this day ends all swaddled in dark cloud, I turn to you the pivot I move round. Gladden my heart and wash away my sin. Your toothless smile will let my God back in. In times when things grow strange Just know that we won't change As this day ends...all broken, battered, bruised, With every hour a wave of more bad news. I thank my stars I'm driving home to you, My three-in-one… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 7. The Road Never Lies

The crumbling road of the wrong from the right. A feeling that we're losing the fight. All I will promise you is the road never lies, All I will ask of you is be there when I die. You're crying now most every day, I'll do my best to keep out of the way. All I will promise you is the road never lies, All I will ask of you is be there when I die. There'll be blood on your hands you know by the end of… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 8. Back to the Green

I took the back stairs to the door where I joined in the crowd, Without a "why?" or a "where?" well we burned that place down. With a gun in my arm we brought down the law, I guess it just slipped my mind to ask "well what's it all for?". Please take me back, back to the green, Please take me back where my baby still sleeps. There is blood in my eyes and glass in my soul, Now I'm fighting for peace,… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 9. You're the Lighter Side of Life

English Rose, full of blood, I hope it's always understood, That you push me through. Oh you push me through. I'm a fool not to say, That you brighten every day. Yes you push me through, Oh yes you push me through. In my darkness, In the whole mess, You keep a tiny light in the bay. You're the light, You're the light, You're the lighter side of life. English Rose, full of fire, When you're sparkling… (read more)

Sleep Sound: 10. Fast Train

Bless my soul what's wrong with me, I'm shaking now like a shaking tree, Let's go stateside. Walked the wire and we sold a few but we've, But we've got to do what a man would do, We'll go stateside. On and on and on it rolls. On and on and on it rolls. On a fast train, on a faster train... Bless my soul well this is the life, It's one less hello and it's one more goodbye, Now we're stateside. Take… (read more)

Hope and Social Seaside Summer Holiday Bus Trip Madness!: 1. Hope and Social - Bus Trip to the seaside...

Remix – Do What You Must

Sorry for the Delay… … we will now resume tramsmission. Back in December we promised we’d release all the parts to the Hope and Social song of your choice from “Architect…”The out and out winner with 10% more than any other track was “Do What You Must”, and though we called the winner in March, a catastrophic hard-drive failure [...] (read more)

Bees and Summer

Well hello everyone on this fine June morning. The world is full of colour and bees (well not that many bees) and we’re on our way to yet more sun filled Hope and Social dates. Yes gather up your smock and jump on the funbus…where better to be once England have been knocked out of [...] (read more)

April, Track 10, Eurospin

This was truely one of the most heartwarming things we’ve done… Yet another of the the magical, wonderful, impossible, crazy things that are only possible because of the wonderful friends and fans around us. For those who don’t know we turned our crypt studio into a French restaurant for the evening, served a 3 course [...] (read more)

April, Track 9, Marching on Through

This track started out as a really really simple jam in the studio – sort of a warm up really as we were preparing to do something else. We have a pump organ in the Crypt which Ed bought for a bottle of wine about a year ago. It’s a magnificent machine (apart from the [...] (read more)

April, Track 8, A Darkness Now is Coming

So we’ve had this song kicking around for ages – but it was in a sort of sub-Aqualung piano pop style until we headed into these sessions. All that really remains from previous versions is the first melody line – “Hear me out / Sound for sound / A darkness now is coming” – it’s [...] (read more)

Sunflower Seeds

I hope you have been delighted to find a gorgeous packet of sunflower seeds in your copy of our new album April. So, the tallest Hope and Social sunflower by the end of September wins an original hand drawn and signed picture of a sunflower by Simon, and a life time supply of Four Day Hombre CDs. (read more)

April, Track 7, Ripples Rock My Boat

[bandcamp track=581917338 size=venti bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB] This is a song with a long history and it comes from a demo I (Si here!) did back at the start of 2008. I had a period of about a year where I did a load of recording just using GarageBand and the inbuilt mic on the MacBook – I’ve [...] (read more)

April, Track 6, James

[bandcamp track=2629967870 size=venti bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB] Right. Well I think all we need to do to explain the origins of this track is to say that the working title was FunmasterJazz. Yes. Indeed. This track came entirely from a jam whilst we were in the writing phase and, until a week before the final mix only consisted [...] (read more)

April, Track 5, Follow You Into

This song happened just about as naturally as any song can. We’d been writing all day and feeling pretty beaten, I sat down on the sofa in the studio and just started playing the arpeggio guitar part and singing some random lines over the top. Ed joined in on piano, Rich on gloc and then [...] (read more)

April, Track 4, Let's Go out Tonight

[bandcamp track=4167514577 size=venti bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB] Lovely lovely big brass band… One of my favourites from the album and in some ways the easiest to record (in others not). Came from one of the original demos and we originally recorded it as a very simple song. Si described as a song about the end of winter, that [...] (read more)

April: 1. April

From Here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/april-track-1-april/ Morning all. Today we release our second full album, April and we thought we’d try and write a few words about each track over the next week or 10 days… I’ll start the ball rolling but I’m hoping the others might chip in along the way… So without further ado… April is our second full album as Hope and Social (no doubt… (read more)

April: 2. Pitching Far Too High

From Here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/april-track-2-pitching-far-too-high/ We’ve been kicking this around for a little while and Ed, Rich and I had done a 12 minute demo which just looped round and round the “All that I know now” and the end choral section. It was one of those demos we do a lot of the time which has the bones of a song spread over about quarter of an hour – Rich’s… (read more)

April: 3. Caught in the Wake

From here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/april-track-3-caught-in-the-wake/ Now this is a curious beast, and despite seeming like an easy win at first it probably gave us more trouble than any other song. It was the first track we started (apart from the drums on Ripples Rock My Boat) and, as Ed kept pointing out we didn’t really know what it was. We were talking a lot about classic 80s… (read more)

April: 4. Let's Go Out Tonight

From here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/april-track-1-april/ Lovely lovely big brass band… One of my favourites from the album and in some ways the easiest to record (in others not). Came from one of the original demos and we originally recorded it as a very simple song. Si described as a song about the end of winter, that feeling where you’re waiting and hoping for spring to arrive… (read more)

April: 5. Follow You Into

From Here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/april-track-5-follow-you-into/ This song happened just about as naturally as any song can. We’d been writing all day and feeling pretty beaten, I sat down on the sofa in the studio and just started playing the arpeggio guitar part and singing some random lines over the top. Ed joined in on piano, Rich on gloc and then guitar and we hit record. I’ve… (read more)

April: 6. James

From Here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/april-track-6-james/ Right. Well I think all we need to do to explain the origins of this track is to say that the working title was FunmasterJazz. Yes. Indeed. This track came entirely from a jam whilst we were in the writing phase and, until a week before the final mix only consisted of the riff. It was loads of fun to play and although it sounded… (read more)

April: 7. Ripples Rock My Boat

From Here: hopeandsocial.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/april-track-7-ripples-rock-my-boat/ This is a song with a long history and it comes from a demo I (Si here!) did back at the start of 2008. I had a period of about a year where I did a load of recording just using GarageBand and the inbuilt mic on the MacBook – I’ve got about 10 songs or so from then which I always intended to do more with, maybe… (read more)

April: 8. A Darkness Now is Coming

Hear me out sound for sound A darkness now is coming I'm allowed to let you down When the darkness now is coming So I will wrap my arms and my legs in holy lead I will wrap my heart in a bible that I know but I've not read With hearts and minds With healing time With holy light I will wrap my heart in this life Hear me out sound for sound When the darkness now is coming I've lost my faith in the human… (read more)

April: 9. Marching on Through

Come on you move like we move now Come on you roll like we roll Come on you shout when we say shout Pick up your sword and let's go Out to the east and the high high tide Out to the west where we grew Down to the south and our good good friends Up to the north of our home I've waited for years just to be here Watching the wheels as we go I've waited for years just to be here Now we're home Wherever… (read more)

April: 10. Eurospin

Recorded live at our "Come Dine With Us" event on 27th March 2010 and featuring the Bottle Orchestra. Many thanks to all who came and enjoyed a fantastic evening with us. (read more)

Come Dine With Us: 1. Come Dine With Us (invitation song)

Be The Architect: 1. Living a Lie

December 14, 2009

"Living a Lie" You know it's all in the eyes We could change the world tonight Take my hand It'll be alright We're running the race to the line We're fighting the good good fight Take my hand Pray to God I'm right You know it's all in the eyes And this cruel suspicious mind Won't relax 'til I've seen yours cry So cry once for all mankind Cry twice for the love of your life Take my hand It'll be alright… (read more)

Be The Architect: 2. Stuck Like Glue

December 14, 2009

Stuck Like Glue I've seen this advert a million times, It's trying hard to desensitize its lying side. A bigger car and a thinner wife, A thinner Bible a bigger life, No compromise. It's the final sign to me, That we're stuck in the 80s. I swear to God that I know that man, He's standing there with his Rictus grin, Ê It's an alibi, Anyone can just trip and fall, But why on earth would you hide it… (read more)

Be The Architect: 3. Drink The Drink

December 14, 2009

"Drink the Drink" Here we are we're never moving far. Got to get me a different clothes to wear, Got to get me a drink to drink, Got to get me a different point of view. Apathy you're paralyzing me, Got to get me a different place to be, Got to get me a book to read, Got to get me a different point of view. You don't believe in all you see you say you want to be at home. You don't believe in all you… (read more)

Be The Architect: 5. Do What You Must

December 14, 2009

"Do What You Must" Somebody call my name, Call it out in another way, Do what you must, Get through the day. If there's a clouded rage, Hidden here in a hooded face, Do what you must, To get through the day. Shout it shout it out, shout it out, Do what you must. I've worn the mournful vail, With the dog at the door and the Sunday failure, In the night, A dream of grey. There are a million ways, To… (read more)

Be The Architect: 7. Looking For Answers

December 14, 2009

Looking For Answers I'm longing for winter to make it cold, Snuggle in with the one that I've had and now hold. They're bunching me in with these tuneless fools, I've got an anger could kill the likes of those. Give it to me, I know it's only the truth. It's this time of year, And I'm longing for proof. These questions burn and they twitch and rage, In spaces made by the boredom of gaining age. And… (read more)

Be The Architect: 8. San Francisco

December 14, 2009

"San Francisco" All the way to San Francisco, Without a care in the world, Without a care. All the way to the edge of the ocean, And I breathe and I sigh, With the tide. Where did it go to? Where did it go to? Drive the night through a state and its city, Every road every town, Are all mine. All the way to insomnia city, With my heart in my mind, And a smile. Where did it go to? Where did it go to?… (read more)

Be The Architect: 9. Raise A Glass

December 14, 2009

"Raise a Glass" The body sags and droops like it's in need of a drink While afternoon repeats glaze my eyes and I turn them to thinking of you, the last of the fools. I'll pour myself another glass of something that stings And let my memory cast it's net and snagging on the things it brings reminds me of you The last of the fools Oh I write a line with passion and indelible grace But lose my muse… (read more)

Be The Architect: 10. Heaven Falls

December 14, 2009

"Heaven Falls" Heaven Falls on me now Skies fall down on me now You know I let it go You know I let it go from here You know I'm out of time Sometimes I'm anywhere but here. A place to go that is far from home Where they can't cast their eyes on me A place to go that is far from home Where they can't cast their eyes on me. Heaven Falls on me now Saints fall down on me now This moment's got a hold… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 1. Living a Lie

"Living a Lie" You know it's all in the eyes We could change the world tonight Take my hand It'll be alright We're running the race to the line We're fighting the good good fight Take my hand Pray to God I'm right You know it's all in the eyes And this cruel suspicious mind Won't relax 'til I've seen yours cry So cry once for all mankind Cry twice for the love of your life Take my hand It'll be alright… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 2. Stuck Like Glue

"Stuck Like Glue" I've seen this advert a million times, It's trying hard to desensitize its lying side. A bigger car and a thinner wife, A thinner Bible a bigger life, No compromise. It's the final sign to me, That we're stuck in the 80s. I swear to God that I know that man, He's standing there with his Rictus grin, Ê It's an alibi, Anyone can just trip and fall, But why on earth would you hide… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 3. Sunlight Hold Me

"Sunlight hold me" Sunlight hold me, Make me wholly alive. Sunlight scold me, Keep me far from tupperware skies. And do what you can before it is time. And do what you can before it is time. Sunlight hold me, Relight all, all that has died. September through to May, Hibernate the English way...inside. And do what you can before you have to wave us goodbye. And do what you can before you have to wave… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 4. Drink the Drink

"Drink the Drink" Here we are we're never moving far. Got to get me a different clothes to wear, Got to get me a drink to drink, Got to get me a different point of view. Apathy you're paralyzing me, Got to get me a different place to be, Got to get me a book to read, Got to get me a different point of view. You don't believe in all you see you say you want to be at home. You don't believe in all you… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 5. King of Spain

"King of Spain" I don't need to see the proof, I believe the things you do are dignified. I took in the photographs, Even though they didn't match your alibi. But all of this was lies. But all of this was lies. But all of this was lies. King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us anymore?… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 6. Do What You Must

"Do What You Must" Somebody call my name, Call it out in another way, Do what you must, Get through the day. If there's a clouded rage, Hidden here in a hooded face, Do what you must, To get through the day. Shout it shout it out, shout it out, Do what you must. I've worn the mournful vail, With the dog at the door and the Sunday failure, In the night, A dream of grey. There are a million ways, To… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 7. In Hope

"In Hope" As I emerge from restless dreams, Chlorophyl is waking me. The home I've known for all these years, Greets me with a mother's tears. And in Hope I know, I'm just two miles from home. And in Hope I know, I'm just two miles from home. The home that's grown as I have grown, Spread its arms and let me go. The walls, the lanes, the playing fields, Armed with Achilles' shield. And in Hope I know,… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 8. Red Red Rose

"Red Red Rose" At ten past eight, I'm leaving home, We'll drive along the bypass 'til we find that road. The coastal road, To somewhere new, Where they don't treat the drink they drink as something they should cling on to. At ten past nine, I'll take that flight, And yes we're looking older now but you live this way you're bound to. We'll wave goodbye, To all that grey, But at least a climate where… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 9. Looking for Answers

Looking For Answers I'm longing for winter to make it cold, Snuggle in with the one that I've had and now hold. They're bunching me in with these tuneless fools, I've got an anger could kill the likes of those. Give it to me, I know it's only the truth. It's this time of year, And I'm longing for proof. These questions burn and they twitch and rage, In spaces made by the boredom of gaining age. And… (read more)

Architect of this Church: 10. San Francisco

"San Francisco" All the way to San Francisco, Without a care in the world, Without a care. All the way to the edge of the ocean, And I breathe and I sigh, With the tide. Where did it go to? Where did it go to? Drive the night through a state and its city, Every road every town, Are all mine. All the way to insomnia city, With my heart in my mind, And a smile. Where did it go to? Where did it go to?… (read more)

Be The Architect: 4. King Of Spain

"King of Spain" I don't need to see the proof, I believe the things you do are dignified. I took in the photographs, Even though they didn't match your alibi. But all of this was lies. But all of this was lies. But all of this was lies. King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us? King of Spain why don't you talk to us anymore?… (read more)

Be The Architect: 6. Red Red Rose

"Red Red Rose" At ten past eight, I'm leaving home, We'll drive along the bypass 'til we find that road. The coastal road, To somewhere new, Where they don't treat the drink they drink as something they should cling on to. At ten past nine, I'll take that flight, And yes we're looking older now but you live this way you're bound to. We'll wave goodbye, To all that grey, But at least a climate where… (read more)

Songs from the Bar of Lost Souls: 1. Just What I'm Looking For

Here's a tale of a fatal attraction Here's a tale of the rarest of prey I'll pin them down and keep them forever Clip their wings they can't fly away You love a thing you keep it in your hand You love a thing you'd better chain it beside you You set it free they'll go as fast as they can I have behaved like a fool A man made like me can't tame you And I see you You're just what I'm looking for Cupid's… (read more)

Songs from the Bar of Lost Souls: 2. The Wildness

I never believed in the concept of evil You do what you do but people need reason People need bad luck Bad luck like me I met you in June and you'd flowered in the April You were fecund in bloom Your blossom was delightful But I guess you were bad luck Bad luck like me We'll go where the wildness goes We'll live where the wildness lives I swore to be true but with love there came murder And with the… (read more)

Songs from the Bar of Lost Souls: 3. Pretty Child

I should have seen the future by the way you took the bar I should have seen the bloodshed by the bleeding of my heart I should have know you'd kill me form the notches on your belt I guess I had it coming from the moment we first met Oh Oh pretty child We were married in the autumn and I kept you close at hand You stayed where I could see you but I knew you had a plan I should have tried to stop… (read more)

Songs from the Bar of Lost Souls: 4. Be Still My Beating Heart

Be still my beating heart Today the day I die Stay close and listen hard Be still my beating heart History is made of men like me Built up on chance not by greater deeds Not by kings at all I won't be mourned and I won't be saved I won't be recalled for the things I've made If I'm recalled at all But I've tasted love and I've tasted sin And I've lived for the most somewhere inbetween I've no regrets… (read more)

Songs from the Bar of Lost Souls: 5. Animals Dine With Me

Come shed your skin in the bar of souls Come bleed your heart you blood red rose Animals dine with me Animals dine with me Thieves bring your gold and your selfish woes Lovers bring hands that are predisposed To sordid and sinful deeds Sticky unsavory Sailors bring love in your 10CCs The kind that won't last through the slightest breeze The birds and the bastard bees All come and dine with me Come… (read more)

EP: 1. Daylight Came

EP: 2. These Walls

EP: 3. Heaven Falls

EP: 4. Raise a Glass

EP: 5. Buzzer Goes