Berlin’s Electronic, Post-Punkers Hope Find Their Rhythm on “Shame” (premiere)

Berlin four-piece Hope join the dots between the unsettling art-punk of Suicide and the late-night, reflective electronica of Portishead on new single, “Shame”. The song quickly envelopes the listener in a dark cloud of rumbling bass and brooding analogue synths. Fighting through the murky, sonic turmoil come, lead vocalist, Christine Boersch-Supan’s lyrics. With lines like “all of my shame is one word” coming across like thickly scribed lines taken directly from a diary, each one is a deeply personal vignette that sits somewhere between hope and despair.

It comes as little surprise then that the song details Boersch-Supan’s very personal and heartbreaking struggles with anorexia. It was a psychological disorder that threatened to systematically sever the very threads of her day to day normality until she finally found the courage to open up and seek help.

The final line, “Enough / It is enough”, is delivered mantra-like as if repeated utterances will finally allow some light into the darker recesses of her troubled psyche. Despite the keenly felt weight of the often painfully honest lyrics, the song rides a thick, dark groove as Hope showcase their compelling sound.