Review
Hammock
Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo

Darla (2006) Shane

Hammock – Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo cover artwork
Hammock – Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo — Darla, 2006

I have been following Hammock's short career so far and have enjoyed everything that they have put out. Their 2004 effort Kenotic and the 2005 release of Stranded Under Endless Sky were enjoyable listens that found their way into my rotation once every couple months or so. With their signing to Darla, Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo is set to be their breakthrough release. After repeated listens I can safely say, we might have to wait one more release for them to completely come into their own.

If you are not familiar with Hammock, they are a dream pop type band in the vein of Landing circa Sphere or A Northern Chorus. The problem with this new record is that it just doesn't have much substance. The album is an hour and fifteen minutes long, which is a problem. Another large problem with the album is that it is eighteen songs that seem to exist as separate entities rather than being one cohesive piece of work comprised of eighteen songs. There just isn't enough substance to bring all the songs together as a cohesive album and some of the songs just feel empty and effortless.

That isn't to say the album is all bad. There are some really good songs on here. The problem is that the majority of the album is instrumental and the best songs tend to have vocals. The title track stands out to be the best song on the entire album. Other stand out tracks are "Losing You to You," "Shipwrecked (Flat on Your Back)," and "Floating Away in Every Direction," with the latter being the only instrumental track on that list. When the band does employ vocals, they are done very well so I am not sure why about fifteen of the songs on the album are instrumental.

All in all, while Hammock hasn't put out a bad album, they sure haven't put out a particularly great album either. The combination of good songs and all the filler ends up making a rather bland and average record. They have the ability to write some rather breathtaking melodies, but it is going to take them learning to weed out songs and making a much more concise album to really be looked at as one of the better dream pop bands out there.

5.0 / 10Shane • November 27, 2006

Hammock – Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo cover artwork
Hammock – Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo — Darla, 2006

Recently-posted album reviews

Sexfaces

Bad Vibes OST
Slovenly (2025)

Best thing about writing reviews is finding out about new stuff that I otherwise might not have heard. Also writing reviews for bands that aren’t friends of mine is pretty cool but when I hear a band I really like, like Sex Faces, it makes me want to be friends with them, I can't help it! I’m not even halfway … Read more

Unseemlier

I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere
Sell The Heart Records (2025)

What does Unseemlier sound like? I've been mulling that question as I listen to I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere for a while now. As I listen to more and more Sell The Heart releases, The band is from Boston, but seemingly influenced by late '80s DC. It's heavy, but more with hardcore-like vocals shouted over moving, building guitars and … Read more

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more