Foto-© Viktoria Bychkova
Nein, Pub-Musik als fröhliche Beigabe zu Whisky und Guinness ist es sicher nicht, was Robert John Hope nun auch auf seinem zweiten Album abliefert. Der Mann ist zwar Ire, sein Genre im weiteren Sinne Folk – und doch hat die Musik von It Sparks (VÖ 02.05.2025) mit traditionellem „Irish-Folk“ nichts zu tun. Der in Berlin lebende Sänger, Songwriter, Gitarrist und Pianist hat ein größeres Klangbild inklusive Indie-Rock und Americana im Kopf, wenn er seine Lieder entwirft.
Es sind äußerst abwechslungsreiche Stücke, die tiefe, warmherzige Gefühle und eine vom Leben inspirierte, reife Nachdenklichkeit in opulente Arrangements verpacken – on top eine tolle Stimme, die oft an den großen Jeff Buckley, manchmal auch an Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) oder Thom Yorke (Radiohead) erinnert. Kurz: It Sparks, Nachfolger des ebenfalls schon hoch gelobten Solodebüts Plasticine Heart (2021), ist eine intensive, kunstvoll produzierte Platte, die man schnell ins Herz schließt. Wir haben Robert John Hope zu seinem Leben als Künstler in Berlin, zu seinem musikalischen Umfeld, seinem Stil und Track by Track zu den aktuellen Songs befragt.
Hi Robert, it’s a pleasure to do this interview. Even if you live in Berlin right now (and for some years), your name might not be known to all of our readers. Would you introduce yourself as an Irish artist in Germany? When (and why) did you come here, and is it better to make a career, a living as an English language artist in Berlin, than Dublin, or London, or Liverpool?
While I consider myself very much borne of the cultural heritage of Ireland, including its rich musical tradition, I like many other Irish artists gravitated more towards the sounds of America in my younger years. I would suggest that moulded me as an artist, especially having played music across the US for numerous years, learning my craft in a highly competitive (though welcoming) and professional atmosphere. As a result, while I’d certainly describe myself as Irish artist who fell in love with Germany and particularly Berlin, my songs might not strike everyone as sounding very Irish in the traditional sense.
I initially came to Berlin close to ten years ago, fell absolutely in love with the city and so decided to move with my German girlfriend here from Dublin. I had spent a few years in Ireland having moved back from the US, and both of us felt we needed a change at the time, and so Berlin was calling!
Each city has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to carving out a career in music, but of all the cities I lived in, Berlin has been the most community driven and encouraging, with the competitive side of the business not being as much of a factor as it was in other cities I spent a lot of time in. The scene and circles I’m part of musically aren’t what Berlin is best known for in music, for example techno, and so perhaps that’s a factor. Also interestingly Germany has been incredibly welcoming to me from the business side of things with grants and other opportunities that are seldom found in the UK, Ireland or US.
Did you build a community of musicians here in Berlin? How did that work, and who plays on your albums finally?
I’ve been incredibly lucky with the musicians I’ve met and have had the pleasure of playing with since coming to Berlin. The album was recorded on and off across two years at The Famous Gold Watch, a beautifully designed boutique studio located in a quiet artist community in Berlin’s Weißensee district, and it is the community built through that studio that I benefited from for this period of my life in music.
The producer Cameron Laings approach to this album was to start from scratch, moving on from the setup behind former releases, and so we formed a new band and arrangement approach. The songs were arranged in the studio with a core band made up of Martin Krümmling on drums, Felix Buchner on bass, Kelly O’Donohue on brass instruments (trumpet, trombone and flugelhorn), Phil Walker on electric guitar and Fabrizio Tentoni on piano and keys. I couldn’t have been luckier with the band that we put together for this record. Each and every one of them contributed amazing ideas that were crucial in us being able to evolve the tracks into something special. They have been such an inspiring group to work with.
Should we hear a certain „Irishness“ in your sound, in your songs? Are there any Irish artists who impress you? In general, which musicians do you admire, did they influence your own compositions, lyrics and vocal style?
One thing I’ve always been told is that I sing with my Irish accent, which I take as a compliment as I hate the idea of sounding like I’m trying to be somebody else. While I grew up primarily inspired by Americana music, and artists like Jeff Buckley, Nina Simone, anything off Motown and others, I also grew up surrounded by incredible Irish artists (it’s a small place), and I was highly influenced in my early days by an extreme range of varying styles, from My Bloody Valentine to Whipping Boy, Kila to The Divine Comedy and many more up to this day with great acts like Lankum, Villagers, Rufus & Jess Smith and others. I was also lucky to have the opportunity to work with artists like Noel Hogan from The Cranberries, Moya Brennan from Clannad, Iarla Ó Lionáird and more, and to think I wouldn’t be influenced both compositionally and vocally by such greatness would be naive on my own part.
There`s a quote about your „vocal range veering from Matt Bellamy style dramatics, to Eddie Vedder and Thom Yorke“. Do you like those comparisons?
I mean, how could I not be humbled to have even a hint of positive comparison with these guys? I’m happy to receive the compliment. My own vocal style developed mainly through sheer persistence without formal training, but I was absolutely influenced by those guys to a large degree, and by folks like Jeff Buckley and, while I don’t sound anything like him, Joe Cocker who is for me is one of the best male vocalist examples when it comes to using the voice as a tool to emit and stir emotion.
Let’s talk about your most recent music – your brilliant second album It Sparks. What are the new songs about in general? Is there a concept – like „concept album“ – or at least some common thread?
Thank you! While I wouldn’t say it’s a concept album by any means, this album for me is very much to do with coming to terms with life while getting older and the inspiration it brings, along with changes for the better and indeed worse. As the years have rolled on I’ve found myself becoming more observant, being able to distill my thoughts better than in earlier times, with a maturity that now allows me to disregard the trivial and leave my anxiety at the door. The current state of the world provides plenty of inspiration, and I believe I’m far better equipped to deal with it now while capturing the chaos with a more optimistic outlook. More often than in the past interesting ideas do indeed spark for me, and I feel the album has allowed me to run with them in a way that presents positively compared to my past efforts.
So let’s have a track by track look at It Sparks. Give us some thoughts about the music, the words, your intentions, the subtexts, please.
1. Those That Look
As soon as I started writing this song, I knew it had to have an epic / dramatic arrangement based on how the structure progressed, and I think we captured that. It’s more or less a reflection on our own perceived inadequacies growing older that are accentuated by the artificial lives portrayed online with social media vs actual reality etc. then coming to terms with being fallible and ironically knowing others don’t care as much as you think, likewise not sweating the small stuff yourself as much and being all the better for it.
2. Gin Lane Revisited
‘Gin Lane Revisited’ was written to be a darkly comedic, playful and theatrical dive into the abyss of self-destruction followed by eventual clarity. It’s a playful, off-kilter and almost drunken sounding in its instrumental arrangements yet tightly held together in order to bring to life the story of the hedonistic lifestyle taken too far, before being pulled back from the brink.
3. It Sparks
This is a track I really wanted to have fun with, and as a band we tried to capture the intensity I had in mind when writing it. It’s another song that muses on the experiences life throws at you, and how you deal with the calamities and dramas and learn from them slowly (often too slowly) over time, while also using those experiences as inspiration.
4. Landing In Liverpool
When I first started writing this song, it was very much a subtle ballad. Once it was fully there, I understood that it needed more. This is one of the few songs I’ve written to which I have no direct experience, but knew of many people who did. It deals with an Ireland before the legalization of a woman’s right to choose, and follows one woman, one of many thousands who had to travel to the UK in order to have that body autonomy they should always have been entitled to at home.
5. It Builds
A return to familiar territory for me, a ballad on the ups and downs in relationships of all kinds, and building on a solid foundation regardless of the challenges that pop up. While it sounds quite simple, it’s one of the more technically challenging songs to play and sing, and so it’s a very pleasing result.
6. Rear View Mirror
This is a track I can happily designate as “fun” to play. Similar to ‘Those That Look’ and ‘The Right Ticket’, this song deals with how life up to this point prepares you and shapes you for the road ahead, for good and for bad. We are all fallible beings, and these songs hopefully delight in being able to throw off the sense of inadequacy at a time when online lives would have us all believe we aren’t good enough. From the moment I started writing this track, I knew it had to be fast, and intense. I think we achieved that!
7. The Right Ticket
‘The Right Ticket’ deals with not having the courage to follow your dreams, understanding that if you take the right ticket things will be fine, even if you think they won’t be. You can take the boring, unfulfilling route that you think is right, but is it really? In other words, it’s about having the courage to take the path of the unknown, and knowing that the “safe” option might not always work out as such. Musically we built quite a simple arrangement around a highly complex acoustic guitar structure, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.
8. Reset At 11th & Pleasant
This song relates to an evening I had on tour in the US, where I ended up at a party in Boulder Colorado that turned pretty dark. How this song is arranged has changed numerous times, but I feel how we captured it now reflects what I originally had in mind!
9. Ringside
This is a song about being next to somebody at death’s door, and the grief that soon follows. It’s a very personal song, reflecting upon my own experiences with my mother. I don’t write many songs on piano, and I feel it was appropriate to get me out of my comfort zone with this one.
10. Vexterior Monologue
As soon as the arrangement came together on this track, I knew it had to be the conclusion of the record. It is a culmination of multiple styles that I aspire to play, but seldom achieve. One of my favourite cities is New Orleans and all the times I’ve been there both playing and visiting, I always came away with a huge desire to capture that city’s vibe in my own music, and that’s why this track has become one of my favourites. I wanted to end the album on an uplifting high note, and I think we might have achieved that with this song.
