193. Song No. 2,912: “Echo,” The Hush Sound
So Sudden, 2005

The Hush Sound is another band I liked well enough but never made it to the ranks of the old-reliables I’d always throw on whenever I needed music but didn’t know what I wanted to listen to. The B’s reintroduced me to “Break the Sky,” which became my most-played song of 2020, made it into my top Spotify songs of 2021 playlist and remains a tune that I need to play a couple more times every time it blesses my ears with its presence. It also finally got me listening to The Hush Sound a little more often, which is what their three incredible, underrated full-lengths deserve.

Despite all that, it took a spin through the early E-songs for “Echo” to finally jump out as something special. In my defense, though, it is an easy song to overlook, starting off with bare-bones orchestration and quietly contemplative verses that aren’t standing in obvious contrast to tempestuous lyrics until you stop and pay attention to this tale of a romance as lost as a ship without a reliable navigator that builds until the one who’s too proud to put an end to a circuitous lost cause finally finds her voice and the melodic fury of a screaming piano, full band and secondary vocals all come crashing in in a crescendo that might seem to be politely asking but is really demanding that you please take notice.