Echophobia - Forget About it Soon/We Wrote it First

Echophobia

Forget About it Soon/We Wrote it First
self-released; 2015

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Patrick Glasgow and Kyle Brokenshire are the two members of Echophobia. They are only in their late teens but have been playing together for “as long as they can remember.” The band has started to release some music on Bandcamp, which points to a talented duo that has a boatload of potential. They are making ethereal, atmospheric music that has elements of shoegaze and indie rock. A couple of their songs reminded me of bands like The Flaming Lips, Yume Bitsu and even Grizzly Bear. 

The first song they released is called “Forget About it Soon.” It starts with a synth and vocals. The vocalist sings, “At night you try to sleep / Till the sun begins to creep / Stuck to a memory / It feels like just last week / The weeks go by so fast / But the minutes go so slow.” The overall feeling for about the first two minutes  is nostalgic reverence. As more percussive glitch-like elements come into the mix the song starts to brew a kinetic energy. When the vocals come into the picture shards of delayed guitar come into the mix and the song really starts to take off. The vocals repeat and the combined elements create an intoxicating psychedelic concoction of sound. It is an impressive song in scope and vision. 

The second song they released “We Wrote it First” adheres to a similar aesthetic as “Forget About it Soon.” It’s dynamic, atmospheric and ethereal. There are plenty of engaging elements in the song that have you guessing if it is guitar feedback, a synth or something else. “We Wrote it First” is a seven-minute song that goes into epic territory but doesn’t sound contrived. They get to the peaks in inventive ways which really saves the songs from sounding too predictable. 

The last song I listened to was “The Insignificance of Dust.” I previously mentioned Yume Bitsu and if you are familiar with the band you will recognize the comparisons here. The music on “The Insignificance of Dust” is the most serene and atmospheric out of the three. It’s a warm, cloud of tones and textures that are on the verge of sounding spiritual. The band’s best moment is around the three-minute mark where the song goes into experimental territory.

The band so far is self-producing and the results aren’t bad. One thing I would say is that better compression techniques would have helped with some of the jarring dynamics. Other than that my only minor gripe is that the singing is good but I have a feeling there is still room for improvement in this area. 

I haven’t listened to the band’s other release (The Fear of Echoes which features these three songs and more) but I am going to soon. If it’s anything like the songs I reviewed I won’t be disappointed. Great start from the duo that has some serious musical talent. 

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