In times of crisis, whether it’s personal, political or environmental, there’s often a turning point — a moment of radical acceptance where the urgency of the moment and the need for decisive action become crystallized, and the things outside your control fall away. It’s not always a grand gesture. Sometimes it’s a quiet, stubborn decision to keep going, to care, even when it would be easier to check out. Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon is about that moment, but on a generational level. It’s a protest record, but as the title suggests, the tools of rebellion are empathy, unity and compassion.
As Soot Sprite, Elise Cook has always worn her heart on her sleeve. Her first EP, 2018’s Comfort in Concrete, was written in the aftermath of a breakup. But here she’s zoomed out to see the broader looming catastrophe. The record opens with references to “great floods and forests on fire”, but she pushes back against resignation and anger: “The thick skin you grow, is it really a blessing? / What’s a suit of armor when your ship is sinking / To be soft is a form of defense”.
It’s a sentiment that echoes throughout the record. “All My Friends Are Depressed” links widespread mental health struggles to the grind of late capitalism and political instability, but ends with a clear call to action: “Change what you can, what you control / let the rest wash over you, try not to fold”.
Cook’s anxious and stretched-to-the-breaking-point vocal projects exhaustion and resilience. Mid-album standout “Surprise Guilty Party” shares the urgency and momentum of the best of Pearl Jam. “Sunday” and “Doomed,” confront the easy escapism of defeatism and resignation, but with a warmth and encouragement to resist nihilism.
Thematically, the album threads together activism, mental health, and the cycles of personal and societal trauma. Tracks like “Vicious Cycles” and “Surprise Guilty Party” draw lines between environmental disaster and personal catastrophe, using metaphor and memory to demand empathy and mutual support. The title track, inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark, frames hope as an act of resistance: “And although everything is mid collapse / Just getting up means that you’re fighting / Because hope is a weapon.”
Soot Sprite’s evolution is evident not just in Cook’s lyrics but in the band’s arrangements, which now feature bassist Sean Mariner and Sam Cother on drums, with contributions from former guitarist Abi Crisp.
The closing track, “Cautious Optimist,” circles back to where Soot Sprite began — Cook and a guitar, uncertain but still reaching for hope. It’s a reminder that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a source of strength. Across Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon, Cook and her band refuse to let empathy be extinguished by exhaustion or despair. Feeling deeply and acting with love and empathy is the radical choice, and the only way forward. In a year that has already produced some outstanding protest records, Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon stands up as a singular effort.
