While the Courier staff, including myself, was taking off a month from writing our articles and editing our pages, the label Fueled By Ramen/Decaydence provided its growing following of loyal listeners with new albums from Panic At The Disco and The Hush Sound. While Panic At The Disco has received much more mainstream success, The Hush Sound most definitely rivals Panic At The Disco’s new album “Pretty. Odd.” with its creativity and originality.

The Hush Sound released their third album “Goodbye Blues” on March 18, almost two years after their last release, “Like Vines.” The album was recorded over a two month span in 2007 during October and November “Goodbye Blues” still sounds like the same band you’ve heard on the past two albums, only much more refined and defined. Also, “Goodbye Blues” showcases more vocals from pianist Greta Salpeter, rather than guitarist Bob Morris who enjoyed the majority of the vocals on their first two releases. While Morris still delivers some great vocals on the album, I think the choice to bestow most of the main vocal honors to Salpeter was one of the best choices the band made on this album.

The first song, which isn’t really a song, entitled “Intro,” features Salpeter singing a short little diddy, which sounds more like a song from the Roaring Twenties. Continuing with the theme of throwing it old school, the band delivers the album’s second track “Honey.” The song is the band’s first single from the album, and it is virtually impossible to listen to the song without singing along and tapping your feet. Morris and the rest of the band flow together seamlessly, and the song showcases some great group harmonies from the entire band.

The album is full of great songs that fuse different genres like classic rock and soul with a more modern sound, all the while still being refreshingly original. The third track, “Medicine Man,” starts out with a simple pounding drumbeat and eventually flows into a soulful song with stellar vocals and piano provided by Salpeter. Also, songs like “As You Cry and “That’s Okay” are clear proof that songs don’t need to be exceptionally intricate to be extraordinarily brilliant. The album honestly has no obvious lows, and when it’s not great, it’s still pretty damn good. The band most definitely has matured musically, which is clear after listening to songs like “Not Your Concern,” and “Hurricane.”

Rounding out the album with the song “Break The Sky” was one of the band’s best choices of the album. Salpeter and the boys don’t try to leave the listener with  some huge climactic anthem. Instead they do what they do best, keeping things simple while keeping you intrigued.

The album should surprise former listeners with its musical depth and creativity and captivate new listeners with a fresh sound from a band surrounded by bands that just can not seem to break the mold.      B+

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