Quiet Hounds

Over the course of their previous five records, Quiet Hounds have remained a fairly mutable entity. Not changelings, mind you, able to slip in and out of entirely different skins, but adaptable enough to keep listeners off guard and on their toes. The band’s 2017 LP, Characteristics of Living Things, was a pensive and wistful affair anchored by its shimmering centerpiece “Emperors.” That album found the group experimenting in varying degrees with new textures and atmospheres, but for the most part it remained rooted in the firm clay soil of Southern indie rock, folk, and Americana the quartet had been tilling for years.

With Everything Else is Noise, however, Quiet Hounds found themselves seeking out lush new terrain to sow. The seven-song effort is the group’s most pop-centric effort to date, a sprawling, radiant work that explores an array of varying sonic landscapes. While for most bands adopting a greater pop presence simply means chasing down more anthemic hooks and brighter sounds, for Quiet Hounds the process meant rethinking their identity as a group and assuming greater risks.

“Every time I make a record I learn more about who I am and what I am capable of,” says producer and multi-instrumentalist Deke Spears. “With Everything Else is Noise, I pushed myself into unexplored sonic places, blending my ‘60s and ‘70s fundamental thinking with modern textures. I think it has turned out to be an eclectic and inspired work.”

Opener “Antioch” is the listener’s first encounter with this new aesthetic, and has the distinction of being both the record’s most infectious cut and the one most tethered to the past. Musically it serves as both gateway and bridge—an entry point into the album’s verdant, cinematic soundscape, as well as a firm nod to Quiet Hounds’ foundational underpinnings. But by the time the second track “River Delta” comes into view, it’s clear the bridge has been left behind, obscured by a swirling mist of alluring synths and resplendent melodies.

From there the band leaps forward from one memorable panormama to the next. It’s not so much a metamorphosis—a significant segment of the album’s terrain remains comfortably familiar—but a major portion of its considerable magic lies in the way Quiet Hounds continually find striking new peaks and vistas to unveil. From sparkling indie pop (“Ladders”) to soothing AM gold (“Daring Greatly”), Everything Else is Noise is populated by sounds and structures that are consistently surprising and spellbinding. It’s a grand achievement—a sweeping, forward-looking triumph for a group of musicians that aren’t entirely satisfied unless they are evolving and treading new ground.

- Immersive Atlanta