Customer Reviews

Raising Your Voice Trying to Stop an Echo

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4 star:		(1)
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Hammock's "Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo" is another fine release from this wonderful band. Over 18 mesmorizing tracks, Hammock expands their sounds to their most sprawling limits on this CD, utilizing not only their signature delayed electric guitars, but also adding piano, strings, keyboards, field recordings, acoustic guitars, and vocals to convey a distinct sense of hope-tinged melancholy. The melodies on "Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo" are as memorable as the other Hammock releases, and while the band shows a greater desire to explore with sounds and arrangements, the band shows remarkable restraint and patience with their songs. They allow each song to lead to its own logical conclusion, never forcing the mood or melody, ultimately leading to a very natural sounding record.

Fans of Hammock's previous work, Slowdive, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno, etc will all find music that they will love on "Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo". The perfect soundtrack for country drives, stargazing, watching the snow fall, or to simply relax to....

Hammock can do no wrong. After their amazing debut release in "Kenotic", and their 4 track ep "Stranded Under Endless Sky", Hammock has released their 2nd full length album "Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo".

This album is musical bliss from beginning to end.
Echo contains 18 tracks, which is a rarity in todays music biz routine, of 10 track releases.
Do yourself a MAJOR favor, and get this album, and if you love it as much as I do. Tell everyone you can.

Hammock's 2006 release, "Raising Your Voice Trying to Stop an Echo", becomes another jewel in an impeccable string of albums and EPs they have released since their debut release, Kenotic.

Hammock continues to do what they do best: produce beautiful music for the soul that will take you in a trip of inner discovery. The follow up album of the Nashville-based duo continues to integrate thickly layered guitars in shoegaze fashion (think Slowdive), producing soundscapes much like they did in their previous works, in a very organic way.

"Raising Your Voice..." goes beyond the work the meditative/instrumental sound they've gotten us used to, bringing in the angelical voice of Christine Glass Byrd and the sound of piano, strings and occasional percussion to balance the work of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, resulting in eighteen tracks that will be just as appealing to fans of shoegaze and ambient as it can be to those who are into post-rock (Sigur Ros, anybody?) or plain and simple GOOD music.

[...]

This is my favorite album in years! Absolute masterpiece of subtle melodic bliss. I MUST buy!

Sometimes you find an album, so entertaining from beginning to end, you can listen to it over and over, and the pleasure only increases - never ceases. Each listen brings new feelings and new favorites. Subtle nuances seem to be hidden in the mix for discovery when your mind is ready to hear them. "Raising Your Voice Trying to Stop an Echo" has this rare quality.

Instrumental ambient/shoegaze with only a few songs containing vocals. You might be thinking (might not, but just in case) that they threw the vocals on the selected tracks for some narcissistic reason or to appease shallow fans who need vocals to appreciate the music fully, but trust me when I tell you there is not the faintest sensation of that pretense on this album; The music is far too mature for that. These folks know exactly what they are doing. The album flows seamlessly and communicates beautifully.

I wont review but a few songs, and comment that there is a lot of droning ambience, but it simply adds to the more moving parts when they do occur.

Track 2 is one with lyrics which are quite touching. "You swore you'd never be them. You're just like them now. All the times you said you hate them, Just to hurt them, you're just like them." Aside from a short break towards the end section; the music for this song provides a steady un-dynamic grove that makes it's point well and forms one of the many gems on this album.

"Dissappear like the morning" is another precious piece (they are all wonderfull). Instrumental only, no lyrics, written somewhat formulaically in a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, end-chorus fashion. The music and progression to and of the chorus is so beautiful and moving by itself that if they were to add lyrics at all, the words would only obscure the powerfull feeling that one gets from the tune.

There is much more here to experience but I wont spoil it any further. Hammock seems to be a group of quite intuitive individuals, whose meticulosity of structure and production allows them to convey a strong message wether it be strictly musical notes and composition or in words. Highly recommended.

I first heard Hammock on one of my local college station's ambient/electronica programs earlier this year. The song was "Passing Away" and I listened through two more long (and I mean looong...) selections by other artists just so I could find out who it was. The song reminded me why I love this kind of ethereal music in the first place. Haunting tapestries and melodies that call out your name to join them. I figured they were local or just an artist or group with one cd that was hard to find. I was surprised and happy to be able to find it on Amazon (as well as other cds they've done) and now this entire album is on my iPod and gets much play. I was also suprised to discover that they werent just an ambient group holding down chords on synths but a very creative duo from Tennessee who use guitars, bass, drums and even strings and vocals with lyrics to make this fine music.

This is one of the most amazing albums I've heard. I bought this cd and their newer one (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow) about 2 months ago and I haven't stopped listening to either of them yet! If you are into bands like Explosions In The Sky or Caspian... then this cd is for you!

I bought this album after coming across Hammock on one of my Pandora stations. I quickly fell in love with Hammock and their brand of instrumental, multi-layered rock. This is a truly beautiful piece of music. The vocals, when they show up (in 2-3 songs), add a haunting quality to songs that already inspire the listener to personalize the story being told.

I strongly recommend this album. The mood varies from the brooding and reflective to the positively upbeat. The range of emotions covered and evoked by these 18 pieces is impressive, and the result outstanding. Give this one a shot.

This is mastery of artistry. I love this album for its intricate and mellow soundscapes it creates.
Lovely music for relaxing, meditating, doing homework, ect. I personally feel it is on par with Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. If you are curious, buy the entire album. I'm glad I did.