Wilkes-Barre post-hardcore band So Much Hope, Buried sees through ‘Rose Eyes’ on upcoming debut EP
From a press release:
Blooming out of Northeastern Pennsylvania, So Much Hope, Buried has announced that their debut EP, “Sentiment,” is set for release on Friday, March 11.
A gorgeous blend of melodic post-hardcore, the band combines insightful and powerful lyrics with operatic level sounds throughout the seven-song album recorded at Novro Studios in Shavertown.
Premiering earlier this week on New Noise Magazine and available now on all major streaming platforms, lead single “Rose Eyes” weaves through emotional dual vocals backed by prominent piano and pounding drums. The song follows the story of a person’s mental health issues affecting their ability to fully be themselves.
The music video for the track, shot and edited by Sarah Novroski, graciously connects with the vulnerability found in the lyrics.
Speaking more on its lyrical content, lead vocalist Bart James said, “‘Rose Eyes’ addresses mental health through a fictionalized story about depression and pain, watching a person strip away any semblance of who they were made to be. It highlights the desperation of knowing they would give anything to be free of the pain they experience on a daily basis before learning to value themselves and not allowing their struggles to define their life.”
Coming to fruition during the downtime of the pandemic, So Much Hope, Buried – Bart James (vocals), Derek Nowak (piano/vocals), Andrew Blank (guitar), Nick Cotillo (bass), and Eric Novroski (drums) – joined together almost seamlessly. On their forthcoming EP that was produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Novroski at his studio, the Wilkes-Barre-based band bursts with emotion in both their lyrics and sounds unique to the local music scene.
Touching on faith, mental health, finding purpose, and love, the songs on the record are as personal to the group as they are up for interpretation by the listener. “Don’t Sink” has a lush build-up before breaking into a full-on guitar frenzy, while “Slave” brings classic post-hardcore chaos into a track about people tending to conform to society’s structures and teachings on how we have to live. “Sentiment” ends with the closer “Keepsake,” playing out as a monologue on love that is honest, wholehearted, and without reservation.
“Sentiment” tracklist:
1. Heal
2. Don’t Sink
3. Desert Child
4. Slave
5. Rose Eyes
6. Neglect
7. Keepsake
“Rose Eyes” lyrics:
The conflict housed within the garden of my mind
has long since withered what had bloomed within my fragile heart
Choked out by the roots of compromised dreams
Wilted and waning
Bending to the aberrant image of the thief
As we plotted to take my own life
Please don’t be subsumed by malicious Lies
You are worth more than all this pain
We plunged his vile blade Into the failing flesh of this wavering wasteland
in attempts of eroding the sacred seed of hope the king had sowed deep within my soul
(Safeguard your heart, keep your eyes on me)
I carried this burden for so long
I hope to shed this skin that I live in
Does this pain have purpose beyond the ache
Or is this all life has to offer me
Don’t let me fall among the thorns
Don’t let me wither away
Poisoning the soil
Decay sets in
rotting out the roots
Wilting the stem
Withering beauty
Atrophy remains
Poisoning the soil
Rotting out the roots
(I refuse to let this garden die, to be usurped by another’s aspiration.
You will not reap this harvest
Devour the dust and descend to the depths
Where even death won’t dine with you)
I am promised a hope for a future
This “salt of the earth” is not destined for death
