Easy to listen to but unmemorable
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4
Formerly known as Ready Set Go!, Echosmith, and have just released their 12-track debut album Talking Dreams.
Pop quartet Echosmith is made up of the Sierota siblings. They started out as brothers and sisters with separate musical abilities forming a band on YouTube a couple years back, where I first heard of them. Although they go by a different name now the line-up and style has not changed too much, except the apparent visual change of hairstyle by front-woman Sydney Sierota.
Opening track ‘Come Together’ is layered with synths, with harmonies from her brothers Jamie (guitar) and Noah (bass), Sydney chants “come together” repetitively. This is not an impressive opening at all, it even feel boring and generic at some point, especially when the track just fades out.
‘Let’s Love’ follows. The lead vocals of Sydney are paired with a more audible male vocal, making it slightly better than the track before. Drummer Graham’s beats lay the ground for this particular track and created an upbeat atmosphere to it, but that is the only merit of the song.
As far as I am aware of, different versions of ‘Cool Kids’ had been released and the current edit has frequent radio plays. It is the only track on the album that strikes a little bit different from the rest, although still laden with redundant lyrics. The overall tone of the song made it just a tad more sophisticated than other songs on the album.
By this point, I am convinced this album only contains tracks that are full of clichéd themes and heavily repetitive lyrics; and as I listen further I am proven right. There are attempts to include a mix of songs that are a variety of styles, so it’s a shame that they all ended up with the same outcome, with most of the tracks even ended the same way. It might be harsh to criticise a group with the oldest member being just 21, but they have been praticing and gaining experience since 2009, so being young does not seem to justify the fact that this album is characterless.
Some may call repetitions catchy but the songs have been far too monotonous that some tracks almost sound the same. There is a fine line between memorable and annoying; sadly, they crossed the line and fell to the latter.
Sydney Sierota has vocal ability, her falsetto in ‘Come With Me’ gave a bit of insight to that, but ultimately it is not shown through much of the tracks and at times it seems stretched to fit into the effects used for making their tracks more than what they are.
At a time when young talents know how to create a mature sound and find their footing in the style they thrive in, Echosmith definitely need to step up their game in continuing with their music instead of relying on their one hit wonder. This largely forgettable debut is rather disappointing.
