56 Hope Road gives the impression on their new CD All Points Connect that they would be a good choice to listen outside in a summer festival setting. Their music is pop/rock with a little bit of hippie thrown in for good measure. One can almost imagine the sun going down on a warm July evening as the band takes the stage to lay down their feel-good grooves and uplifting lyrical philosophy. Their sound, a mix of DMB/Blues Traveler acoustic jam-iness with overtones of pop and soul, is very listenable and singers/songwriters/guitarists Steve Goveia and Dave Hamilton supply enough variety in the writing department to keep things moving along nicely. Titles like "New Philosophy," "Love Revolution," and "Soul Song" let you know that this is a bunch that likes to remain positive, or at least hopeful, most of the time. This is not necessarily a bad thing and contributes to the bands' readily accessible nature.

The band (Goveia, Hamilton, drummer Greg Fundis, bassist Chad Sanders, and keyboardist Steven Mann) uses its considerable collective musicianship to create layered arrangements based around the songwriters' twin acoustic guitars and harmony vocals. Additional vocals, percussion, harmonica, electric, and pedal steel guitar then nicely augment their core sound at various times. The overall effect is rich, full, and dynamic. Guest electric guitar soloist Brian Wilkey turns in some inspired performances, particularly on "Future Sons," as does harmonicat Doug Schroer, on the same tune. In the end, 56 Hope Road has put forth a decent effort with All Points Connect. This is a band that has a clue about how to write, play, and arrange music that will connect with an audience. They don't break any new ground, instead choosing to remain straight ahead and let the music do the talking.