The Hush Sound

Talk about revisionist history. Jesus. I had decided at some undetermined point in the past that The Hush Sound was old, sad bastard music. My favorite song from their 2006 effort Like Vines was “Out Through the Curtain,” and it wasn’t a close race. “Out Through the Curtain” is a wonderfully dynamic dirge with a first person account of agoraphobia, reclusiveness, and regret. Sparse at the beginning and bordering on hopeful exuberance at the end, I connected to this song immediately and listened to it often. However, as time passed and I listened to Like Vines less and less, I forgot that “Out Through the Curtain” was an anomaly on the record.
Fast-forward to this weekend. I see that The Hush Sound has released a new song entitled “Not a Stranger.” Excited, I click on the stream and…what’s this? A funky bass line connecting the jangly guitar intro to the first verse, where lead singer Bob Morris croons his way to a lovely, upbeat chorus (where he’s joined by the lovely Greta Morgan)? Huh. Interesting. And really great.
It’s fun without being goofy, although the mood of the chorus is a bit ambiguous: a lot like the love the song is about, I suppose. After a couple of more spins, I’m even more intrigued as I discover more nuance in the instrumentation I didn’t hear the previous listen. Shit, it’s time to dust off the ole’ copy of Like Vines and give it another listen. Were there hints of this new sound present in their older music? That’s a metaphoric dusting off, obviously. C’mon.
You know the rest of the story already: they’ve always had those elements in their music, and “Not a Stranger” is simply a fine-tuning of what makes this band good. For a group that’s just coming off a long hiatuas, they sound incredibly tight and cohesive. I can’t wait to hear what else they have in store for us in 2013. - Property of Zack

Rising alongside fellow Fueled By Ramen acts like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco in the mid-2000s, THE HUSH SOUND steadily climbed into every teenager’s heart with their upbeat indie-pop and frontwoman GRETA SALPETER’s heart-on-her-sleeve lyrics. After the band went “on vacation” in April 2009, the members formed other bands like Gold Motel and Debate Team. After sporadically playing a few shows since their initial “vacation,” the Hush Sound are headed out on a mini-tour through the Midwest. AP caught up with Salpeter and guitarist BOB MORRIS to chat about the specifics of their reunion (well, we’ll hear their thoughts on that word in a bit) becoming adults, pop music and selling soap.

The Hush Sound played a few shows in 2010, earlier this year and now you’re out on a mini tour. What exactly is going on with The Hush Sound?
BOB MORRIS: We played those two nights at the Bottom Lounge [in Chicago this year], and it was extremely fun and reinvigorated the spirit of the band. We saw how much people cared and how much it meant to them. Those shows made us realize we have this thing that is capable of creating such joy and we wanted to investigate what could happen with it. We started slowly wading into it, and pretty soon we just decided we should make new music.

GRETA SALPETER: We’ve definitely been taking it one step at a time, keeping everything super-natural—well not supernatural: super-natural. In August, Bob and I got together to write for the first time and within an hour, we wrote what we think is one of our strongest songs. At this point, we have eight or nine songs, and we’re hoping to record an EP this winter to release next year. We have new attitudes and new excitement about all of this.

With four years since the last Hush Sound record, what’s the new music sound like? What’s changed?
MORRIS: We’ve grown in a lot of ways. We’re not trying to put any boxes on what we’re making. I think the goal is to make really true music. If the truth is a little different now, then it’s a little different.
SALPETER: The truth is a lot more pop, now.
MORRIS: I think people are going to be like, “Wow, this is exciting.” I liken it to when In Reverie came out by Saves the Day or Deja Entendu by Brand New. Not that we sound like that, but as far as that “growth” of the band’s sound. That was when I was in high school, and I had followed Saves The Day from Can’t Slow Down, Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are, and then all of a sudden they came out with In Reverie and it made me grow up. I don’t know if we’re trying to make anyone do anything; we’re just trying to make really good music, and so far, it’s working really well. When we used to go into albums, we would have like four-and-a-half songs written, and now we have 30 songs floating around between us. It’s cool to be able to pick and choose the direction we’re going to go, instead of being relegated to the amount of half ideas we could come up with and finish.

Greta, you said it’s poppier. Can you expand on that?
SALPETER: Everything has started with the melody and the beat. A lot of our songs used to start with lyrics because I’d be bored in class, so I’d sit and write all the lyrics before actually arranging the song. These songs have just started with the most visceral elements. It starts with the groove and melody, and then we fill everything else into that puzzle. Because of that, I feel like these are a lot stronger.

MORRIS: Being a little more mature and competent at writing, we can fill the lyrics in a way that fit and add to it instead of making it a song on top of a poem. It’s cool to work the other way around.

So how do you define what is going on with the Hush Sound? Is this a full-on reunion this time?
SALPETER: [Laughs.] I mean, technically, we never broke up. It sounds silly, but the reason we said we’re going on an indefinite hiatus is because we were all like, “We don’t want to do this right this moment, but we might eventually.” We never want to be one of those bands who are like, “We broke up. We’re back together. We broke up. We’re back together.” We’re probably going to be playing in this band forever, and now is just the time to reignite it.

MORRIS: When we did the band [originally], we were so young. You start to grow up and see you need to make things happen in life to be an adult and to be a human. In my mind, I didn’t know that [the Hush Sound] could possibly happen again. As time went on, I was like, “Oh, we probably won’t do the Hush Sound again.” For me, those Bottom Lounge shows really invigorated me to say, “Hey, I really enjoy playing with these people. I really enjoy being around them, and it’s cool that we’re all getting the opportunity to do that again.”

There’s definitely something to be said about a band having some time away to grow up. When So Sudden came out in 2005, Greta was 17.
SALPETER: Yeah, we were so busy, burned out and exhausted [when we first split]. Putting a bunch of kids in a van for 10 months a year is hard. I remember Bob and I once got in this screaming match about my vegetables taking up too much room in the tour bus refrigerator. That stuff is so laughable now, but can illustrate how on-edge we were. We’re excited to do this with clear heads and actually enjoy it and connect with people the right way.
MORRIS: And organic vegetables are much smaller!

So if you had a soapbox to talk about this reunion—er, continuance—what do you want people to know?
SALPETER: I’m selling great soap out of this box. It’s only $5 a bar.
MORRIS: I think we just let the music dictate itself. We’re just excited to go play music and show people what we’re doing now.
SALPETER: For real, though, I feel like these are the songs we always should have written, so on my soapbox, I’m just saying, “Hey, come join this party.” - Alternative Press

Chicago’s The Hush Sound release their first new music in FIVE years, with a two song bundle out today. To help get the word out there about the new music and also let fans know about a spring US headlining tour with Hockey, the band partnered with The AV Club yesterday who premiered “Not A Stranger."

In addition, the band revealed their second new song “Scavengers” this morning via Rhapsody! The songs will also be available for purchase as a limited edition 7" along the band's spring tour.

New music from The Hush Sound (Greta Morgan, Bob Morris, Chris Faller, and Darren Wilson) offers all of the charm and brightness that brought them success in the past, this time with a more mature and refined sound. The band started writing together again last summer and hit the road in the fall of 2012 for a handful of Midwest and East Coast dates before heading into the studio to work on recording new material. They tapped old friend Sam Farrar (Phantom Planet/Maroon 5) to produce the tracks. 2013 found The Hush Sound hitting the road again, making their way down to SXSW for several packed shows after a seven year absence. The West Coast and Southwest run surrounding their appearances in Austin was met with equal excitement. Coast to coast fans showed up en masse to welcome The Hush Sound back, selling out NYC’s Highline Ballroom, Chicago’s House of Blues, and Los Angeles’ Troubadour along the way.

They already have a full US tour locked in for the spring with their friends in Hockey joining them for the entire run. The run begins at New York City’s Webster Hall on May 14th and winds down the Eastern seaboard and through the Midwest before a hometown show at Chicago’s Metro on June 4th. The tour wraps up in Cleveland at Grog Shop on June 8th.

Fans can now buy the two new songs they recorded – “Not A Stranger” and “Scavengers” for $1 via www.thehushsound.org/supportourmusic and pick up your physical copy of the 7" on the spring tour! See below for all confirmed dates and check out a studio update from the band via Free People below…

Enjoy and see you on the road! - Fearless Radio

It's a cold Boston Saturday in November and the four members of The Hush Sound are on a mission to find a Whole Foods with a hot bar. Once it's been decided that drummer Darren Wilson was incorrect in his belief that the closest store was lacking this feature, he, along with the rest of the group -- which includes vocalist and pianist Greta Salpeter, bassist Chris Faller (styling a Bill Cosby-esqe sweater), and vocalist and guitarist Bob Morris (who is attempting to protect every inch of his body from the cold) -- troop onward. Fans planning on attending the band's sold-out show that night at T.T. The Bear's could easily walk by and not look twice at the ragtag individuals passing them by.

It's been about three-and-a-half years since The Hush Sound first decided to take a break, but it seems as though no time has passed for the quartet. The band began back when high school friends Greta and Bob began writing together. Chris and Darren met in concert band at another high school and soon after formed a band in which Chris first switched from drummer to bassist, the position he continues to play today. When the four came together, they became The Hush Sound, and have -- to a certain extent - been ever since.

But starting something successful so young can take its toll, and a few years ago, they decided to take a break to try other bands, other jobs, other places, and for Darren, an exploration of his interest in international relations as a student at Loyola University Chicago. Yet the music called, and after a conversation which Darren describes as something like "Hey, let's play music again," the band re-formed and hit the road.

So here they are, on a mini-tour to get back in the swing of things, and spending yet another night on the road in search of the comfort of warm prepared foods. In the store, Chris seeks out Greta's sage advice on which avocado feels riper, while Darren explains that the band is currently putting butter in their coffee as part of a new diet and marvels at the peaceful nature of the woman at checkout. Bob asks for it to be written that the band stole everything they bought in order to build street cred. After so many years, though, this is just a typical Saturday night. As Chris explains, their relationship is very "sibling-like".

"It's cool 'cause we've seen the best and the worst of all of us," says Chris. The group then goes on to recall such touring memories as Bob throwing up out of the window, accidentally leaving Darren behind in another state, and Greta tripping over a monitor on stage. They may not have been pleasant at the time, but all memories are remembered fondly now.

While some things never change, others do, and for the better. As the band begins to dip back into the writing process, Greta says she can see their positive growth in this area.

"Early on, it felt very much with every album like it was a child, and we all wanted to raise it slightly differently, and now it's almost like the child has taken on a life of its own, and we are all respecting that," says the singer. As you get older, it's a little less about your own perspective, and a little more about letting an object freely shape itself."

Despite their upbeat attitudes, a journey back to the venue shows the wear and tear this kind of life has on the musicians. Packed into a small room filled with not only themselves and their gear but also members of the opening acts and their gear, the band quiets down before their performance. After getting only three hours of sleep the night before and putting on a show earlier that day, Darren shuts his eyes for a minute while next to him Greta and Chris work away quietly and the band's tour manager packs up his "office" for the next city.

Bob is the most energized, putting on several layers of coats to go on stage with the opening act and surprise the crowd and chatting away about his dog, basketball, and other random thoughts. When the topic of Justin Bieber comes up, the red-headed whirlwind pauses for a moment, then says "I envy his money... I don't envy his life."

It may not be the glamorous rock- or pop-star world many dream about -- no, this is the real world, where you may end up changing your pants in a room filled with a dozen other people -- but The Hush Sound like that their eclectic tastes and backgrounds bring together parents and their kids, and that their particular brand of music is "inoffensive" and "non-polarizing", as Chris and Darren put it earlier.

"I feel like we're obscure enough that if someone seeks out our music, it's because they like it," says Greta. "We're just below the level where people want to bash you because they feel that your success is undeserved."

Finally it's time for the group to hit the stage for a crowd filled with characters, and as Darren requests a backrub from Greta and the others laugh at the odd expressions crossing his face during the experience, an interaction with the band earlier that day comes to mind:

Bob: We're not trying to be super cool.

Greta: We don't have time.

Chris: We're a bunch of weirdos, and we attract the weirdos, and it feels

good. We make weird music for weirdos.
Greta: By weirdos, for weirdos.

As the concert gets going, some audience members dance spastically and Greta quotes a joke from a 1960s edition of Playboy, and it becomes clear that for this group of weirdos, this is the coolest place to be. It may not be an easy life to live, but for The Hush Sound, there's no better fit. - The Huffington Post

The Hush Sound have been quiet for the past five years. Finally, their silence has been broken, and those delicious poppy tunes we love are back. Rhapsody is lucky enough to debut “Scavengers” today, excessively to Rhapsody listeners.

We love the new tune and are excited to hear the rest of the tracks from the album, which the band is releasing one at a time. The band is getting ready to hit the road–tour dates follow. - Rhapsody

Indie pop band The Hush Sound burst out of Chicago with 2005’s So Sudden, releasing two more records before going on hiatus in 2009 and branching out into ancillary groups like Gold Motel. Last summer, though, the band started writing together and some of the resulting material will be available for purchase on the band’s site tomorrow at 12pm EST.
In anticipation of that, as well as to hype the announcement of the band’s first full slate of tour dates in five years, The A.V. Club is hosting one of the band’s new tracks. “Not A Stranger” is total summer festival bait, perfect for lazy Sunday listening on porches right as the sun goes down.
A full list of the aforementioned tour dates is below. - The AV Club