Concert Review: Hope Sandoval Is A Haunting Beauty With NO PHOTOGRAPHY!

I knew I would enjoy Hope Sandoval’s And The Warm Inventions’ show when it was clearly declared NO PHOTOGRAPHY! My reaction could pretty much be encompassed in this giphy!

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Now, of course, you heard a few persons’ scuffle of “Yeah, right?!” and “Suuuure!”, but for the most part people were “game” and ended up feeling relieved. There was no Instagram that needed to be posted, and it was refreshing to not have sea of phones lit in recording Hope’s every move. Frankly, that rule alone, made Hope Sandoval’s show an experience. Of course there were those that “broke the rules”, but it was not enough to detract from the beauty of Sandoval’s voice, and the flowing peace of having everyone invested solely in her. You may not know not notice but recording a show can take away from giving your full energy/ attention to the artist before you. Often, we are so busy proving we were at a location, we cannot really tell its details after we have left its. Yet, here we had to peer into the world Hope was was making for us, and, honestly, it was ethereal and haunting.

I have a confession to make; I have a phobia of vintage photos. Yes, I know that this is weird, but any worn, black and white pictures from the 1800’s or early 1900’s horrifies me. Something about how the past was pictured appears freaky to me, especially, because people were told not to smile and to zero their eyes into the camera as if they could see the future faces of every person that would look at their photo. Yet, to Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions, such photos, along with pictures of dilapidated spaces/ worn films, were an opening to observe life and death. Sandoval’s voice is literally angelic. She sounds like light peering in through the lyrical cloudiness of songs such as, “Not All Our Tears”, “Day Disguise”, “I Thought You’d Fall For Me”, and “Antiquity”. Hearing her voice felt like a bell chiming through silencing themes like grief, rejection, self-loathing, dreams, joy, and love. Make note, I placed the highest and lowest of human plights and endeavors in one statement because, for Hope Sandoval, life feels like a gauntlet match between the opposing energies of light and darkness. Hence, her voice seesaws according the vocal notes and vulnerability she paints in tracks, “Around My Smile” and “Lady Liquid”. Whether it be in relishing love like a sweet fruit or a tossing of it as a rottener of one’s esteem, Sandoval sees life from a height we all wish we can attain.

I swear Hope Sandoval writes and sings her songs out of her body. She seems too blissfully distant, which furthers her concert atmosphere’s ghostly delicacy. Again, those “scary”, for me, pictures of humans long passed but emanating strong poses brought a strange loveliness to Hope Sandoval’s And The Warm Inventions’ show. Amongst instrumentals made to lag and lather is gorgeous discord, the images displayed, and Hope’s celestially bewitching voice, the crowd was able to absorb songs that should be categorized more as sung philosophies or musical anecdotes on what it is to invest in life while accepting its fleeting nature. For More Information On Hope Sandoval’s And The Warm Inventions Click Here.