Following the lead of
Hopewell's Jason Russo, Jimy Chambers is another former member of
Mercury Rev to go off and front his own band. (Obviously, there are no hard feelings with
Mercury Rev, considering front guy Jonathan Donahue is a guest here.)
Hopewell may still have echoes of its predecessor, but
Odiorne isn't as concerned with big symphonic rock. Instead,
Heavy Wish is relatively restrained, even when Chambers' soft vocals are complemented by horns, jazz piano, or sounds that seem to come from the outer reaches of space. The vocals, however, are also a weakness: in "One a Day," a mostly instrumental track that warrants some comparison to
Pink Floyd, Chambers' vocals are a bit thin and don't add enough to the picture to strike up anything intoxicating. Other times it works, like on the pleasant "Webs Without Maps." It's as if he's either trying too hard to avoid a comparison to his former band or just not focused enough on his own path. ~ Kenyon Hopkin