Good Louis´ “Hope You Will” is a song about taking a chance on someone even when the odds look bad. The upbeat rhythm and melodic hooks give the song a sense of forward movement, while its central idea rests on a simple request. Hope here depends on another person’s answer.
The song is close to songwriting territory. Good Louis approaches love as an uncertain proposition, with the narrator willing to risk disappointment for the possibility of being together. The title carries the weight of that request. Melody and a steady rock pulse give the song room to move without turning its subject into a grand declaration. From Los Angeles indie rock to his current work in Brooklyn, Good Louis keeps his focus on songs built around people and their choices.
For those who might not know you yet, how would you introduce yourself?
I’m an actor and songwriter. I do the very best I can to make music that is emotionally uplifting and inspiring. I like to tell stories and sometimes there are elements of sadness and hard times but like my favorite writer, Charles Dicken’s, I like to provide a positive underlying message. I try and do that with the combination of lyrics, melody and phrasing.
If you had to bottle up your sound into just three words, which ones would you choose?
World-weary courageousness.
Which artists (not only music-related) or moments have left the biggest mark on your music?
Dylan, Lennon, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Paul Simon. I like songwriters. Writers like Charles Dickens and T. S. Eliot have really inspired me as well. As for moments, I would say there have been a couple of relationships that have had a big impact on my writing. I feel like the only way I could accurately relate my feelings to certain people was through song.
When you hit play on your songs, what kind of feeling takes over?
I think my music can be very emotional but also very inspiring and often very catchy!
If you could team up with anyone in the world, no limits, who would be that dream collaborator?
Bob Dylan, but that’s like wanting to write with Mozart. I would also love to collaborate Amos Lee. He is such a wonderful songwriter.
What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
I’m working with a sketch artist on some illustrations that will make up the next music video for the title track ‘Stays Alive’ from this forthcoming LP. I’ve never done anything like it before but I think it’s going to be pretty cool. The idea was inspired by a Radio Head exhibit I went to recently.
Can you walk us through the story or emotion behind “Hope You Will”? Can you tell us about the storytelling and the visual approach to the video.
I’ve tried to describe the song to a few people but have come to the decision that I would much rather prefer to leave it up to interpretation. The idea behind the video is to show lots of different people dancing, having fun and being inspired by the song for different reasons but not necessarily knowing why or even caring why. The idea was to show the reaction to the song as uplifting.
