No Hope Kids is the musical endeavor of San Diego native Michael Barrios. The project expands into multiple genres but is centered on the emotive breaths of Barrios’ life. Our Time Apart is the latest release, and it winds through a variety of genres that entire creative identity feels like you are in the psyche of the musician. From the opening swells of the title-track to the sludgier “God Complex,” one can find a song to clutch across the entire record, No Hope Kids is that diverse. Michael Barrios stopped by to give a track by track explanation of the industrial beauty that is Our Time Apart. Listen to the album below, and read about each track as you go along, it’s an amazing journey. All of the songs were recorded in St Louis during a one week period between September-October 2016.
“Our Time Apart” – This song was written very early on and from the beginning was going to be the opening track on the album. I spent practically an entire day messing around with different chord progressions and effects until I decided I wanted it to start off minimally with a reversed piano. Lyrically, this song touches on the different themes throughout the rest of the album which made it fitting for a title track. The phrase “Our Time Apart” references two separate things: firstly, I went through a long distance relationship for about half a year. Secondly, the album discusses many recent things in my life and so it tells a story of what I’ve been up to since I last released music.
“Crown” – When this song was written I had undergone a lineup change in the band. I had a few bandmates that were trying to control the sound of the project that I had poured my heart in to. Ultimately I decided that I needed to continue making music with my own pure vision so we parted ways. Crown has a very braggadocios feel to it lyrically and I love it for that. I get so hyped about the falsetto every time.
“Empathy” – When I knew that I was aiming to release an album in 2016 I decided early on that I would need a producer. I knew of this guy named Jake Jenkins (who I shared similar influences with) and I knew that he’d be the perfect choice for making this album the way I intended. I flew out to St Louis all the way from San Diego to make this happen. After we tracked the first two songs, we wrote Empathy on the spot. I told him that I wanted a very ‘80s pop song and he laid down these drums that blew my mind. After that, I started messing around with the piano until the whole song eventually came to be. The song is about how when I was a child I used to be much happier whereas now I feel grey.
“God Complex” – An ex-girlfriend of mine once told me that I have God Complex and that the whole world revolves around me. I thought it would be funny to really exaggerate those traits and become this monster of a character for this song. If I’m being honest, while 90% of this song is complete sarcasm I actually relate to a few of the lines. The fun is guessing which ones! This song is musically similar to the lyric content. Huge riff? Check. Guitar solo? Check? Gang vocals? Yep. Over-the-top falsetto? Of course.
“Dearest Daisy” – In complete contrast to the previous song, I wrote a sincere acoustic track. Every story referenced in this song is a real story of what happened during the long distance relationship. In January of this year I tried driving to Idaho where she was living at the time but I made it to only slightly past Las Vegas before a snow storm made it impossible to go any further. Snow terrifies me.
“Isolated” – There is a bit of irony in the final version of this song. This is only a 1 minute long track where I lament over how isolated I’ve become lately. However, it is the least isolated song vocally as it contains three additional singers creating a crowd effect up until I wail out those final high notes. This song is an interlude which begins the second half of the album and it has a chord progression reminiscent of Our Time Apart.
“Closest” – Right here is an example of the musical genius of Jake Jenkins. We were in our final day of recording and we needed one last song for the project when out of nowhere he comes up with this crazy synth line. I just sat back watching him construct this beat while I was playing melodies over in my head. The final result was a perfect dark pop love song.
“Look In Your Eyes” One of my personal favorites on the whole album. The lyrics talk about depression and how it can feel slightly better when you have someone supportive in your life. Give this one a listen.
“This Time” – By far the oldest song on the album and it was actually even going to be on my 2015 EP. The origins of this song trace back to 2012 when I first wrote the bass line and the vocal melody for the verses. It has went through many changes throughout the years and the lyrics weren’t finalized until July of 2015. It is about how I found myself unable to connect to anybody and trying to find out the reason why. It has a long instrumental outro that gets pretty chaotic.
“Out of My System” – I had written the main riff many years ago and always knew that it felt like the conclusion of something. So when it came time to write the closer, I knew that this riff was how the album had to finish off. Jake played the riff on piano and I suddenly felt like I needed to get personal with my lyrics on this one. I wanted to talk about something other than romantic lyrics so I dived into my depression, existentialism and my family. Before the album was released I was so scared of people listening to song but I really did need to get it out of my system.
