Melting Hopefuls

An oddball NEW YORK quintet based throughout the group of singer/guitarist Renee LoBue and drummer-producer Ray Ketchem, the Melting Hopefuls delivered a occasionally unusual — but generally winningly — melodic make of indie rock and roll with a good stability of folk and sound textures. LoBue and Ketchem produced the Melting Hopefuls in 1990, adding bassist Sue Kresge and electrical guitarist Potential Siebel (LoBue generally mementos a folkish acoustic), and playing regional night clubs. A self-released demonstration cassette, Prune Juice, arrived in 1991, accompanied by Magnet for Discolorations in 1992, and Heal Back again Harder in 1993. Finally putting your signature on using the Philadelphia-based indie Big Pop, the Melting Hopefuls documented their debut record, Space Flyer, in a number of sessions during the period of 1992 and 1993, however the record didn’t turn out until early 1994. By that point, the group acquired added another guitarist, Lorraine Turri, who’s credited in the album’s sleeve although she doesn’t in fact show up on the record. Space Flyer was well analyzed, as well as the wry one “Tugging an All-Nighter on Myself” received a good amount of substitute radio airplay. That melody was remixed and included on the group’s following discharge, the eight-song EP Viva la Void. However, nevertheless, Siebel, Kresge, and Turi still left the group before any longer recording could possibly be done. Over time of woodshedding, LoBue and Ketchem recruited guitarist Peter Langland-Hassan in 1997. LoBue transferred to keyboards and bass synthesizer, so that as the recently constituted trio’s audio transformed and Langland-Hassan started sharing songwriting responsibilities with LoBue, the group transformed their name in the Melting Hopefuls to Elk Town. The initial Elk City record, Status, premiered in 2000.