It’s not often that a band comes along and sweeps fans, bloggers and critics off their feet before playing a single gig. That was the case last year after Boston quintet “The Hush Now” released their self-titled debut. As the Boston Phoenix put it, the album meshed “lush sugar-spun melodies of shoegaze’s dreamy heyday” to “the hooky muscle of bands like Guided by Voices and Built To Spill.” Produced by David Newton of The Mighty Lemon Drops and released last October, the debut climbed independent radio top 100 charts and drew comparisons to Prefab Sprout, Teenage Fanclub, and The Ocean Blue, among others. Blog buzz and radio play by BBC 6 further fueled interest in the band. All the while, the band had already finished recording album number two. After a tour of the west coast, The Hush Now went back into the studio and put the finishing touches on their sophomore effort, Constellations which hits radio in the US and UK in Feb 2010. Of the album’s first single, Hoping and Waiting, the UK Music Review writes, “a little Stone Roses, a dash of Guided By Voices, a smidgen of Flaming Lips and a dose of Yo La Tengo; one of those classic pop tunes that pop up from time to time and catch you pleasantly off guard. This is superior indie pop from a band well worth keeping a very close eye and ear on.” Like their debut, ‘Constellations’ pounds along at a blistering, powerful pace, and gladly the invention and surprises are all still there. Among the many standouts, ‘Thorns’ successfully employs some U2-style delayed guitar rhythms before it’s controlled pressure cooker lets fly with a soaring atmospheric trumpet solo. This is their transient, festival-headlining moment it seems. “Haven’t you had enough already?” Noel Kelly chant’s as the brakes gently come on. “No” is the answer actually, as they then effortlessly dispense ‘All You’ve Said and Done’, all stop-start blunt rock riffs with a sheen of retro keyboard sounds and subtle horns teasing out every bit of feeling. (Americana UK) And the recent success of their Christmas single, which the UK Telegraph called, “deliciously” festive and “the loveliest recording” of the season has made Constellations one of the more eagerly awaited releases of 2010. Another Form of Relief proclaims, “any band that have me thinking ‘these guys are going to be huge’ off the back of a Christmas song is obviously doing something right.” With the band’s line-up finally locked in with Kelly (vocals/guitar), Barry Marino (drums), Adam Quane (lead guitar), Pat MacDonald (bass) and John Millar (keys), The Hush Now are preparing for tours of the US, UK and SXSW this spring/summer. And as Ian Fildes at Americana UK points out, “with album number three, amazingly, already in the pipeline The Hush Now are in danger of lapping the competition.” Download the entire album here.
