Hope Of The States‘ Samuel J Herlihy has dropped a new solo single ‘Insignificance’ via a text-based adventure game – find out more below.
The new music comes following the singer announcing last year that he would be embarking on a solo career, and dropping his first single, ‘The Entire Span of Human Existence’.
He went on to play a debut solo show in London, and hinted that he had a full solo album on the way, which would be entirely self-produced and recorded on the same cassette that he used to record his first-ever songs when he was 13.
“These songs are kind of sad, and funny, and heavy and odd and are I guess memorials of a sort to everyone’s friends,” he said at the time. “Weird childhoods, unhappy accidents and insane luck. They are for Them here, and Them long gone. I’d love anyone to come and hear me play.”
Now he has announced debut album ‘Poltergeist’, and released brand new track ‘Insignificance’.
Starting out with nods to early Bob Dylan material, the song begins with an intriguing instrumental melody, before gradually building until it reaches a final chorus filled with fuzz-dominated guitars.
At time of writing, the song is only available via a text based adventure ‘game’ which provides context and narrative to the lyrics, although a digital release will be dropped at a later date. Visit here to check it out.
Discussing the single, Herlihy shared: “I think I’d seen the Dylan movie, the one with Willy Wonka [Timothée Chalamet] in it, and was thinking how those first couple of records were so great and I hadn’t really listened to them in years. Then the first line is a nod to the Jim O’Rourke record ‘Insignificance’, I remember hearing that record years ago and really loving it, thinking how trad but out-there it is simultaneously.
“A bunch of the songs on the record are about other bands’ music and how those people and their songs are fucking important to me,” he added. “Dylan, [Spiritualized‘s] Jason Pierce, Kurt Cobain are iconoclasts. In the absence of any meaningful religion (to me) and in a world where music is relentlessly undervalued I think it’s important to celebrate people who can break your heart like that.”
‘Poltergeist’ will be released in October, and will be available via Spectral Operator and Rough Trade shops on edition white vinyl. The interactive game page also shares that there will be a Rough Trade-exclusive baby blue vinyl plus ‘The Exorcist’ CD, which features additional tracks and live versions from the 2025 gig at St Pancras Old Church.
As for Hope Of The States, the band returned in 2024 and dropped their first single since 2006, ‘Long Waits In A & E’. They went on to share two more new tracks, ‘Footage/Steamtrain’ and ‘Billboard Mountain’, and also released a reissue of their 2004 debut record, ‘The Lost Riots’, for National Album Day 2025.
In October last year, they wrapped up a UK reunion tour, which saw them play their first live shows together in almost 20 years. The trek included a performance at Islington Assembly Hall in London.
Last summer, Herlihy spoke to NME about the trio’s comeback and shared his excitement about writing new music as part of the group.
“The new stuff we’re making is really good,” he shared. “To be in a room with those boys and be on stage is exciting, and I’d like to just enjoy it. There is so much of it that we didn’t enjoy [the first time around]. We had a blast, but there was such a ‘thing’ around it all that we didn’t appreciate it like we should have.”
Herlihy continued: “To be able to do this with a smile on our faces is all you can ask for. There’s a real sense of gratitude to be able to do this again.”
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