The Hush Sound

There are a lot of bands towards which I desperately want to make the hush sound. Shhhhhhhhh. Thankfully Chicago's The Hush Sound is not one of those bands.

THS is a two-headed beast: Bob Morris and Greta Salpeter share vocals and (I'd assume) songwriting duties. The resulting 13 songs are incredibly catchy and artfully poppy, occasionally dabbling in Dissociatives territory, other times Joseph Arthur, Cold War Kids, or the Dresden Dolls. Greta has a really great voice, strong falsetto, and nimble piano fingers. The bouncy rhythms behind everything help to separate them from other bands that feature prominent keys. Bob's autotuned vocals just stand out as unnecessary. You can tell he's got a great voice, the songs are practically Supergrass pop when he's at the helm. Autotune just turns me off when it's used rampantly without cause. I like it best when they both sing, though most of these are just one or the other. Two instrumentals are beautiful and flowing, a nice break from the well-crafted pop surrounding them.

Listen:
Molasses
The Boys are Too Refined
[from Goodbye Blues|buy]