Review & Lyrics Meaning: Talking Dreams - Echosmith

Echosmith – verb: the shaping of sounds

I’ve seen Echosmith labelled many things including emo, alt-pop, indie pop and electro pop, but rather than tag them a genre I’m going to stick with infectious. And that’s exactly what Talking Dreams, the debut album from Echosmith is. The four-piece band of siblings comprising of Sydney (vocals), Jamie (Guitar), Noah (bass) and Graham (drums) has been stuck on repeat for the past week. Had I heard Talking Dreams last year, it would have been a tie for my album of the year (tied with Paramore’s self-titled).

Echosmith (left to right: Noah, Jamie, Sydney, Graham)

Talking Dreams marries teenage feelings with images of eternal summers; painting a picture of the perfect world of young and first loves. Those past their teenage years (that includes me) will no doubt reminisce and have wonderful memories rushing back to them whilst listening to Talking Dreams! Each song could play the storyline of the next big teen movie.

Listeners will find the lyrics easy to relate to with talk of teenage themes littered throughout the album. What teenager hasn’t at some point: considered escaping; wishing to be a cool kid and experienced the feeling of being head-over-heels in love.

In fact, love is such a prominent theme the word love is mentioned in seven of the fourteen tracks. So if you’re going through a bad break-up, you should probably listen to something else…

But those of us not going through a break-up can enjoy the stories of being united and invincible – ‘we walk like nothing’s wrong’. The lyrics sing of a beautiful world, but that’s the feeling you get when you’re in love I suppose – or a ‘natural high’ as March Into The Sun puts it.

Take the sugary sweet lyrics of Bright. Launch yourself on a journey through space where everything in life is exactly how you paint it:

‘I think the universe is on my side/ Heaven and Earth have finally aligned/ Days are good and that’s they way it should be’

While Let’s Love reminds listeners of that feeling and moment when you’ve met the one – ‘I’ve been saving my soul for someone like you’.

Our characters in the narrative often look toward the future together, hand in hand. Foot-stomping opener Come Together mentions ‘big city dreams’ and ‘hopes on the horizon’ whilst rousing you to ‘run to the fire escape’. Talking Dreams encourages you to ‘run away to New York City’ and Ran Off Into The Night wants you to head into the night and to the coast. There’s even the slightest rumble of a train in the background to the beginning of Surround You, provided by the gentle playing of drums by Graham.

The bonus tracks have a different feel to what proceeded, almost acting as an epilogue, as the narrative turns from a perfect world to question marks.

Up To You reveals the heartbreaking line ‘don’t wanna force you to be with me’ while the final track on the album We’re Not Alone begins with

‘Ooh, this don’t feel right/ In fact, it feels like things are escalating…/ And this is getting out of hand/ And I’m sure you understand/ That we can’t stay.’

Citing influences such as Joy Division, The Killers and Coldplay, Echosmith are at their best on the fun and energetic numbers with Talking Dreams and March Into The Sun being perfect examples of this – try and resist dancing I dare ya!

When they aren’t making you throw shapes, acoustic ballads such as Bright and closing track Surround You are where Sydney’s vocals shine through – and the harmonies provided by the brothers can’t go unnoticed either.

I can see Talking Dreams being stuck on repeat for a long time, particularly when summer arrives- it’s the perfect album for unadulterated sunshine! Listen to the full album below and hear for yourself!

If that wasn’t enough to make you fall in love with Echosmith, here are some other reasons to love them!

Echosmith do awesome covers