The Hush Now | A Review of Constellations

The Hush Now is a five man band based out of Boston Massachusetts. Their sound is comparable to the likes of The Cure, My Bloody Valentine or other bands in the same vain. Their Second album Constellations is a playful mix of pop/garage/shoegazer brands of rock, which results in a sound that is both youthful and energetic. While the lyrics are straightforward, consisting of the run of the mill sort, usually heard in such a band, ballads of sorrow wrapped in gentle barbs of disillusionment.
Never the less, they still evoke that sense of wonder and awe a good band should. Some people can just be a sucker for a band with horns, and face it they have them well placed in this album, the trumpet along with what sounds like a cello complement songs like All You’ve Said & Done. There is also an operatic interlude which comes at the end of the track Hoping & Waiting. It’s either genius or silly, (I’ll let you be the judge of that particular point) as Hoping & Waiting finishes with driving drum progression accompanied by a blaring trumpet you can’t help but like what this band it doing. The only real constant in this album is the voice of lead singer Noel Kelly, the album shifts between more traditional pop rock ballads which you can hear in the track Smokescreens to the more folkie oriented numbers as with the track Fireflies. What constitutes this album as worthwhile is its overall character and tone. Constellations invites you in with an initial sense of familiarity, and escorts you out with a feeling of auditory delight.