What can’t I say about this album? Well I can’t say it’s bad. Or Average. Or fair to middling. It’s brilliant. It’s that simple. There’s probably no need to read the rest of this after that statement, but I’m going to write it anyway and assume that you will.
Echo Gecco are a great live band, truly great. I had the pleasure of seeing them at the Marrs Bar last year and they were definitely the highlight of the show. Not that the other bands weren’t also brilliant, it’s just the raw energy and entertaining performance Echo Gecco delivered really made my night. They just lifted the whole thing. My partner in crime at Flam and Flange towers, Luke Bishop, has seen them a couple of times since and says that they have only got better since that time.
I was really pleased to see that this album, Self Titled, dropped in the past few months. They have done a fantastic job with this. The production of it is very high standard and there’s a vinyl release alongside the Bandcamp which is always a winner for me.
There’s a real sense of synergy to this band, total commitment to all of the elements of the varying elements of their sound. On the face of it they seem like an upbeat indie/rock outfit, not unlike the early Kings of Leon stuff, but when you start to pay attention you see that veneer is a misunderstanding of what’s going on here. This is a fusion of so many elements; Jazz, Rock, Garage, Prog, Skiffle, Punk and so on; that the album is almost dizzying. Sure you can bop about to tracks like No Help Tonight, but then you’re going to be turned upside down with tracks like Sit Down (I Don’t Wanna) and Shapes. They switch, seemingly effortlessly, between time signatures and key changes, style and tone – it’s masterful.
In their Bandcamp bio they compare their sound to the 70s Zappa and Yes era of musicians and while that is accurate in a sense they also are creating something that sounds really fresh and new. By trying to do something old school they’ve started a new class instead, something that somehow sounds original in a sea of over-saturation (pun intended).
Going back to their live shows, you really need to check them out as soon as possible. I’m hoping they become a fixture on the summer festival scene too because I think they will build a big fan base if so, their energy and humour on stage is fantastic for getting the crowd moving. We featured one of their tracks on our last Flam and Flange podcast and will have a couple more tracks in the next one too so do check it out. And if the Geccos are reading this we’d love to interview them again in a future podcast!
By: Stu McGoo
Flam and Flange