Echo & Drake

There's something about Echo and Drake's music that hits a lot of pop pleasure centers and calls out to a mainstream audience while repping contemporary indie rock styles — the clean guitar lines, the insistent rhythms, the swirling synths, the blankets of reverb and delay, and of course singer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Ericson's vocals, sung in a high tenor and somehow sounding simultaneously intimate and distant. Their still-new album Sundrenched Elsewhere — as apt a title as any — is a sonically rich studio affair that feels significant in its density. "It's maybe kind of lame to say your band is epic," Ericson says with a chuckle, but he adds the band used as many as 80 individual tracks to record one song. The album was also the culmination of Ericson and guitarist Rich DeVito's now-seven-year-long collaboration, during which time, Ericson said, he wrote a lot about the travails of early adulthood. "They say your teens are your angsty period, but my 20s" — he laughs again. While they might sound blissed-out on the surface, he says the album's songs are "all expressing some kind of frustration. There's a melancholy touch to everything. We can't help it." Large as the album sounds, Ericson says the band wants to give restraint a try. In new recordings, he says, "we're trying to have a maximum of one or two tracks per person." And even if he notices life making a little more sense these days, he adds, "I'm sure there'll be other difficult points in my life" to fuel that creativity. - www.ct.com/The Hartford Advocate/New Haven Advocate/Fairfield Weekly

There's something about Echo and Drake's music that hits a lot of pop pleasure centers and calls out to a mainstream audience while repping contemporary indie rock styles — the clean guitar lines, the insistent rhythms, the swirling synths, the blankets of reverb and delay, and of course singer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Ericson's vocals, sung in a high tenor and somehow sounding simultaneously intimate and distant. Their still-new album Sundrenched Elsewhere — as apt a title as any — is a sonically rich studio affair that feels significant in its density. "It's maybe kind of lame to say your band is epic," Ericson says with a chuckle, but he adds the band used as many as 80 individual tracks to record one song. The album was also the culmination of Ericson and guitarist Rich DeVito's now-seven-year-long collaboration, during which time, Ericson said, he wrote a lot about the travails of early adulthood. "They say your teens are your angsty period, but my 20s" — he laughs again. While they might sound blissed-out on the surface, he says the album's songs are "all expressing some kind of frustration. There's a melancholy touch to everything. We can't help it." Large as the album sounds, Ericson says the band wants to give restraint a try. In new recordings, he says, "we're trying to have a maximum of one or two tracks per person." And even if he notices life making a little more sense these days, he adds, "I'm sure there'll be other difficult points in my life" to fuel that creativity. - www.ct.com/The Hartford Advocate/New Haven Advocate/Fairfield Weekly

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant

“Although this Connecticut band has yet to strike a major label deal, the sound of their independent debut is quite polished... strong arrangements, soaring melodies and intelligent lyrics are sure to appeal to fans of Keane, Morrissey, early U2, Coldplay, Crowded House and Tommy Keene. Clearly a band to look out for” - Rob Farrish

"In Brittle Sails (my favorite track) Ericson speaks to 'the thrill of getting nowhere.' But if their debut album is any indication these guys should be in for bigger thrills down the road.” - Pat Doyle

“It's the kind of music that fails easily, but the quartet pulled it off and really kept me interested. Singer Jon Ericson's got a great voice and uses it really well while fronting the very tight band” - Patrick Ferrucci

“The guitarist used a series of effects and pedals to create synthesizer sounds that flowed beautifully... I enjoyed their originality and falsetto vocals… they got a great response from the crowd” - Chris Clark

“It's the kind of music that fails easily, but the quartet pulled it off and really kept me interested. Singer Jon Ericson's got a great voice and uses it really well while fronting the very tight band” - Patrick Ferrucci

"I'm really glad to hear this well-written and well-executed performance... great drumming... and the guitar tones ring out like bells" - Independent A&R Company

"Jon Ericson can sing and on his band's debut disc he belts them out. The record is a rousing affair, near operatic at times... they won't be strange company for long!" - PLAY New Haven Magazine

"I'm really glad to hear this well-written and well-executed performance... great drumming... and the guitar tones ring out like bells" - Independent A&R Company