The Hope Blister was formed, under the spiritual/aesthetic guidance of Ivo Watts Russell, as a sort of sequel to This Mortal Coil. Fewer musicians are involved this time around, and most of the instruments seem to be strings.
Of the name, Hope Blister, Ivo says:
"I wanted two words that worked together that normally don't. Hope Blister popped into my head, sitting in a traffic jam one day...it means different things to me, but the meaning is pretty much contained within the name, simultaneously positive and negative. Virtually everything in life is like that."
The word "
melancholy" comes up a lot when people try to describe their sound. I think it's a sound that you either love or hate (or both). Their only album so far,
1998's
...smile's o.k. is a collection of
moody,
atmospheric covers of eight of
Ivo's favorite
songs:
Musicians involved in the project include:
Sources:
quimby.gnus.org - the eyesore database
4ad.com
*props to avalyn for the correction