The Southern California-based family band Echosmith leaves it all on the table with their new self-titled album Echosmith, out now. The band is made up of sister and brothers Sydney, Graham, and Noah Sierota. Unlike any album they’ve made prior, Echosmith’s highly complex interpersonal familial relationships are fully present on nearly, if not, every song on this album.
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Even the making of the album was quite a family affair, as the album was almost entirely self-produced and written by all members. With this newfound creative control, the band seemingly found themselves in a situation with an unprecedented opportunity to make bold moves in regard to both the music and the lyrics.
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“We are transparent about what we’re going through,” Sydney previously shared. “We all struggle with stress and discouragement. … We gave ourselves the freedom to make music for the sake of making music, and it helped define what the new sound was going to be.”
In light of this new sound and subject matter, Echosmith aims to add to their existing popularity and prominence by revealing all the cards in a daring, vulnerable, and honest fashion on their latest project. That being the case, Sydney and Noah Sierota take American Songwriter on a track-by-track journey through all the idiosyncrasies and nuances of their new album Echosmith.
1. “Porcelain”
Sometimes this song feels like it was written by my therapist… We talk a lot as siblings about the “big things” that we were told we were supposed to do in our life but haven’t actually achieved. At a certain point, that became our identity, and an identity that we felt we had to protect at all costs. “Porcelain” comes from the conversations with our spouses about this experience of fear, humbling, confidence, doubt, and being willing to shatter the walls we put up to protect these dreams at a cost to ourselves.
2. “Sour”
I spent 6 months living long distance from my husband and just hated it. One day I was talking to Noah on the phone about how I was feeling, and we ended up writing a song about it. “Sour” captures the heartache and anxiety I felt in the hellos and goodbyes in the limited time I had with my husband during that season. I had a bit of an epiphany while we were writing “Sour” about what really mattered more than anything – being together, even if it meant packing up my things to get ready to move to the other side of the country to be with him.
3. “Sucks 2 Be Us”
This song was born from our growing pains as a family band. In the middle of the pandemic, we changed the structure of what we do in almost every way. One of the biggest changes was with our management – our dad had been our manager since the beginning, and we felt the need to take a step in a new direction. “Sucks 2 Be Us” is about the ins and outs of making a hard but necessary decision. This new era of Echosmith has been very much about taking the reins and ownership in our career: musically, professionally, and creatively. We are a family first and foremost and we’ve all entered a beautiful season of letting each of us grow in new ways.
4. “Hindsight”
I’m a romantic and always have been. Oftentimes, I find myself romanticizing “better times” in the past, distracting me from the present moment. This song came from a conversation about wishing we could have that “20/20 vision” for the moment we’re in now, before it’s over, so we can truly appreciate it for what it is.
5. “Perfect Light”
Saturday morning is one of my favorite times of the week. Waking up late, the perfect cup of coffee, and the space to take a breath and relax. Those are often the times that I feel most at peace, which feels exactly how Noah and I both feel with our spouses. Our life has so many random twists and turns, but our partners have really been through it all with us. They ground us and make us feel at home no matter what’s happening around us. Feeling at home with the person you love is the best feeling in the world, just like the perfect Saturday morning.
6. “Golden Child”
This song is a collection of memories from high school. When we were kids, all everyone seemed to talk about was how different they were going to be from their parents. Years after graduating, it’s crazy to see how many of us actually became very similar to what our parents expected of us. I think we all have thoughts like that as we grow up and try to “find ourselves” but you can call it what you want or you can call it what it is.
7. “Greedy”
“Greedy” is a conversation with God. It’s a pouring out of all the disillusionment, desire, and fear we’ve felt in the last few years of having seasons of questioning just about everything. Greed isn’t a feeling I want to feel, but it’s human nature to be a glutton for everything and to be driven by it. Our hope with this song was to be honest about our feelings and something so deeply personal to each of us – our faith. We made a conscious decision to be transparent about every part of our lives with this album, which truly does make this album an invitation to get to know each of us better. “Greedy” feels like one of the most important songs we’ve ever written, because of how much we poured our hearts out into the lyrics.
8. “Brother Sister”
A majority of this record was written only by us siblings. We brought in a few collaborators for select songs, but we wanted this self-titled album to capture the raw essence of who Echosmith is, a family. “Brother Sister” was the first song we wrote for the album and it captures the dynamic of our sibling relationship. While at a wedding together with a bunch of old friends, Sydney and I found ourselves in the corner talking about all our fears about our lives and our future as a band. That felt like one of the most clear and honest conversations we’d had till that point about the topic, and it was not an easy one. A few days later, I (Noah) decided to write a few verses about this conversation as a dialogue with my sister and best friend. She sent a voice recording back of her response, and we were left with “Brother Sister.”
This song captures how lost we felt, but through the album-making process, we truly feel like we not only found ourselves again but a new version of Echosmith was born.
9. “Primadonna”
“Primadonna” captures the experience of finally seeing the “real side” of someone we had always looked up to. I think hope and respect can so often make us naive to the true intentions of a person. We’ve opened our hearts too often to people that we thought were looking out for our best interests but instead used that open door as a chance to control. When someone is only looking out for their own best interests, it ends up hurting everyone around them. This song is our way to say that we don’t want to continue to move forward in unhealthy relationships and sometimes that means stepping away completely.
10. “Hang Around”
“Hang Around” was the second song written for the album, and the one that dictated the feeling musically for the rest of the album. It’s how we feel about our spouses – we want to do everything we can to be around them because their presence makes us feel like we can truly be ourselves. We’ve spent a lot of time away from the ones we love due to busy schedules and the past few years, we’ve realized just how much we need to be around them. Noah and I both married “old souls” who seem to find the beauty and fun in everything and help us stay grounded in every way.
11. “Gelato”
“Gelato” was written with a group of friends on a mountain in Idaho. It’s our spin on a nihilistic song while taking the perspective of trying to let go because of how temporary everything is. Sometimes you need that reminder to take life a little less serious in the middle of the chaos, even for just one day. I’ve always been one to lean toward escapism even if it’s time to face the hard things. “Gelato” is not giving us the “solution” for our problems, but giving us a new perspective when we need one. It’s definitely the wildest song on the record and the fun feel of it sonically really captures the meaning of the lyrics too.
12. “Shelter”
“Shelter” is a song dedicated to our youngest brother, Graham. As his older siblings, we’ve always felt the desire to defend him, protect him, and fight for him. He’s an incredible person and has been misunderstood at times in his life, and we’ve wanted so badly to give him shelter from any storm he’s been in. The hardest part of growing older has been finding how to let go and give him the space he needs to be his own person and grow. “Shelter” is our way to always offer our help, but also be honest about our attempts to control things in the name of “protection.” The day we wrote the song, we knew we really wanted to showcase Graham’s drumming, which absolutely leads the song. Seeing him shine in his element is the absolute best, and the perfect end to a record that is all about us as a family.
Photo Credit: Gara / Courtesy Press Here Publicity
