Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When we look back at all the major events that have been the visual soundtrack to our collective lives in the last one hundred or so years, it is perhaps with wonder and astonishment that that any of us are Here To Tell The Tale, let alone talk about our truth with style and grace, with a passion that kicks out at the ignorant, with a fierce musical sidestep to keep other’s lazy lies from impacting, degrading our story.
If we have one mission in life it is to be invincible; and the best way to accomplish that is to face the slings and arrows of broken hearts and bones and fight them one creative masterpiece at a time. Here To Tell The Tale, it is not by luck, but by perseverance, by concern of mind, and making sure the notes you took down match the tempo you wish to express the delight and exuberance you feel each time you feel your pulse race.
The Catskill Mountains has always had a ring of fantasy and imagination weaved within its name, but the music that has dominated this part of the eastern United States of America’s landscape, is anything but real, a real depth of humanity and cohesion attached to it and in Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones, the Hudson Valley riff explodes off the page as the band release arguably their finest work to date, the sensational Here To Tell The Tale, a set of songs that persuade even the most unfaithful of hearts to feel the love, and the least active of feet to stomp and boogie as if the day will never end.
Across tracks such as the opening spirited command of Let’s Go!, and the relentless persuasion that follows in Stop, Drop & Roll, Some Advice, It’s A Crime, the superb Knocked Out, The Art Of Asking and the stunning finale that brings I Drink To Your Health out into the open and accompanied by musical uproar, the sound of swing, rockabilly, country, blues and glorious stomping pop all rolled into one set of to proud fingers placed in the vision of the detractors and the those that wish to silence every tale, every story, from the ground up.
Here To Tell The Tale is an album that is larger than life, an expression of confidence, a tale of many beginnings, of the highs and applause of the segue, and the flourish of the finish; all this and the sheer craft that went into making the album so alive, is to be admired, and included in your own dramatic story.
Embrace it, breathe it in, hold it dear, for to be in the presence of Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones, is to know that the outstanding tale of life must endure onwards and be outstanding always.
Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones release their third album, Here To Tell The Tale on June 25th via Sower Records and Crazy Love Records.
Ian D. Hall