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I said in my welcome the night review that I was really looking forword to the next The Ataris album aka Kris Roe's next album, and he hits me with an acoustic L.P that I find out about on the day that it gets released! You can imagine my childishness rising to the surface, well.... I never stop being so, it was just more obvious than usual. So it wouldn't suprise you even if you know me just a little that I've been listening to this downloadable L.P ridiculous amount since its release and felt compelled to tell my one listener, reader, blogger, lonely person about it. What may surprise you however, is that I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've listened.

If you took that as me meaning I was cautious and not so sure about it then you took it the way I meant it. So I hope I've teased you enough to read on to give me the privilege to tell you why! Putting my none bias hat on obviously......

It could be seen looking at on the outside that Kris has produced another stopgap in the ever expanding gap between now and the again delayed new album graveyard of the atlantic. Yet, the one thing you can always say about Kris, is his acoustic stuff is the best part about his music and in many ways is the thing you wait to be released. Speaking as being a huge fan for a lot of years I always find myself going back to the acoustic version of The Ataris archive I have never seen any artist make a song sound similar, but quite different at the same time. And I think thats to do with that he takes playing acoustic very seriously, touring acoustic sets all over the world on his own must be worthwhile in his development of his sound. Whats great and beneficial about that is its really made him become the purest version of his music and I imagine due to his hectic schedule changing the songs he plays in order to keep a certain form of originality in his sets makes the songs evolve over the years he plays them. I really admire any artist not just Kris for being willing to do that, it's hard to imagine that comedians and musicians not that long ago never really needed new material if they had a certain number of hits, they just kept everything identical. I think that's one of the benefits of this modern open society, it greats a higher demand and stops artists resting on their Loral's. So much so that they get linched if they are accused of churning out similar sounding albums. The reason why Kris is one of my favourite artists's, is that he always seems to try and find a new way of getting better without the need to be pressured by fans in that regard.not that Kris hasn't had loyal fans complaining of the delay, but I as a fan understand that when you're running the band yourself things don't always go according to plan. So when I ask at the start of this review if this is a stopgap for the fans, it is in its premise, but once I listened to it, you can hear how much thought has gone into it. As I've said many times, hearing Kris Roe on an acoustic guitar and a microphone is hearing Kris Roe at his best.

Once of the first noticeable things about the L.P is that it isn't like the Let it Burn E.P of years ago, Kris plays full songs while also including 3 new tracks. The ataris actually released two new songs earlier in the year All souls Day and graveyard of the atlantic which are two of the new songs on here. Ataris fans including yours truly expected the song Rachel's song so be included somewhere in this, as Kris played this song a few times during his east coast America tour and it had been leaked onto youtube. (as an aside its a brilliant song and I dearly hope it is on graveyard of the atlantic). When the first version of these songs were released I like the new sound, and I think Kris in his recent interviews saying it will be the middle ground between the albums So Long Astoria and Welcome the night sums up the direction they are taking perfectly. This LP starts actually with a brand new song 12.15.10, as far as I am aware no direct sequel to the classic ataris song 1.15.96 from the blue Skies album. As I meantioned in my Welcome the night review, Kris has the uncanny ability to put song in very sensible order and as a starting point, 12.15.10 makes perfect sense. Welcome the night had very dark religious connotations but as kris described in his interviews, it is still embedded in the new songs, just he is now making a compromise with the old ataris sound crafted in. By having the old material on this LP, such as My hotel year, San dimas to the more recent Unopened letter to the world and now the new songs as well, it underlines the overall progress that kris has made since 2007 when welcome the night was released. The ataris were always known for being quite melodic and playful yet praised moreso for kris songwriting abilities. Now when listening to the new material you can see how more room Kris has allowed to let his songs grow as he himself gets older.

The ataris aka Kris has always been one to throw in an amazing cover of a favourite song of his and I'm glad to say hang your head in hope is no different. Kris covers the classic replacement song 'Can't hardly wait' which is a very creditable interpretation as it's rather more faster paced than the orginal and done in kris' brilliantly heartfelt way. The other cover on the record is the misfits song Skulls which is not unusual in terms of kris covering misfits songs (on their live tours they played the brilliant astro zombies regularly). When I said Kris's brilliant heartfelt way earlier, it's something as your go through the album you realise how great and precise his voice has got. Quite a few Welcome the night reviews made light of Kris' lack of consistency in his voice, especially towards the end of the record. Although it is hard to disagree to a certain extent, what I will say is that it was more to do with the quality of the song towards the end of welcome of the night, something I explain in greater detail in my review for that album on this site. I have always found Kris' voice to be unusual, but painfully expressive which combined with his unbelievable song writing leads me to the reason why I am such a fan of his music.

When I wrote that sentence it actually reminded me of when I went to see the ataris at Manchester academy. My sister who I fragged with me said he had a great voice, and anyone who knows my sister would know she is the most critical, insensitive person on the planet. I say that to underline if you'd ask her, shed deny the last bit, but people never notice their bad qualities do they? This does underline though, how when you hear kris sing live it does give off even basically the feeling of someone that feels every word he is saying. In the world of mainstream music where people like Leona lewis and the continent talent shows that churn out people who can hit a high note, its nice to see artists coming through that express themselves rather than following the rules and afraid of being found out. The best artists always show themselves when they perform and If you ever see Kris perform a live acoustic set, even if you don't like his music you'll appreciate the dedication he puts in. This dedication shines through in particular in the older songs that on Hang your head in Hope and more specifically in his guitar playing. Songs such as your boyfriend sucks and how I spent my summer vacation seems to be more complete than their original songs based on the fact that the chords are more distinct, the beats are slightly faster and like i said right at the start, it feels like Kris has finally found his new sound.

Downsides? Well, it isn't the new album everyone was hoping for, but something in the back of my head was telling me it wasn't gonna happen to at least 2012. Its quality is great, and Ive been playing this a lot more than when I first got welcome the night, but as its' all done in one take some songs sound a bit out of focus the more you go through the LP. This is the risk with albums such as this, so occasionally he misses his target, but what I am surprised about is that he hits the target a lot more than he misses.

So in conclusion, if this is whats to come, Kris Roe has found his sound and voice. Now all I need is for him to come back to Newcastle. A loyal fan awaits Kris! But in the meantime, hang your head in hope is very worthy substitute.

(Kris Roes Hang your head in hope LP is a downloadable pay what you want LP available at http://theataris.bandcamp.com/ a 14 track download available in any format. Graveyard of the atlantic is due for release late 2012.

Overall YRadio Score

86%