When Morgan Pennington decided to record an acoustic EP, she wasn’t expecting to begin a partnership that would soon become And the Echo’s dreamy, synth-pop sound.
Last year, Pennington began recording at Winn McElroy’s Black Wing Studio in Water Valley, Mississippi, and that’s when her album took an exciting turn.
“While he was working on the music for [the EP] he kind of took an artistic new way and just changed one of the acoustic songs a little bit, and made it kind of electronic-y,” Pennington said. “It ended up being my favorite thing on the EP, and we just decided to do them all like that.”
Courtesy: andtheecho.com
Then, the pair were asked to play last year’s Double Decker. By the end of spring, And the Echo was officially established.
“I wasn’t really looking to be in a band, but we write together easily and we get along most of the time,” McElroy said.
Though Pennington originally wanted to record her acoustic EP alone, McElroy’s expertise in production and, most importantly, synthesizers caught Pennington’s interest.
Now both musicians play the synthesizers for recording purposes and their live performances. Pennington plays the guitar live, and the two also create all of their sounds with a wide range of instruments while recording.
And the Echo’s live performances are unique compared what one might usually see in Oxford. Pennington and McElroy play with sound and lights to create a different ambiance for every song.
“We realized, with our kind of music, you don’t have the mobility that you do playing those traditional rock instruments. [The lights] kind of just add to the live experiences,” said McElroy. “It’s fun to program different scenes for each song.”
For every song, the lights work in tandem with the band’s settings as well as with the tempo of the music.
And the Echo’s music possesses a transcendental quality because of the fast-paced yet dreamy sound created by the synthesizers— also, though, because of Pennington’s seemingly unbreakable vocals, which are deeper and at the same time slightly more understated than what one might hear from mainstream electro-pop queens such as Lauren Mayberry (of CHVRCHES), Grimes and Purity Ring. As for Pennington’s lyrics, many are based on heartbreak, which she said she experienced for most of last year.
For now, the duo has resolved to spend the summer working on a full-length album.
“It’s just kind of a more refined sound of what we’ve been doing,” McElroy said. “It’s just reaching the point where, now, I think we know the direction that we’re heading. If you listen back to our body of work, there are a couple of songs that kind of sound a little a different as far as tonalities, and now everything just coming together.”
Luckily, for fans that enjoy their danceable songs like “Okinawa,” the group said there is much more of that to come.
“We’re going a little over-the-top dance,” McElroy said.
“But it’s so much fun!” Pennington said.
In the fall, And the Echo will introduce their new music, and, according Pennington and McElroy, “it’s going to be a whole new show.”
At the moment, the duo has recorded a 45rpm containing two songs, “Smoke and Mirrors” and “The Parade.” They’ve also made some CDs containing various songs to tide fans over until their EP drops in the fall.
And the Echo will be performing this Friday, June 19 at Proud Larry’s with Noel Johnson and Adrian Dickey. The show begins at 9 p.m. They will also be the featured performers at this year’s Jim Jam competition at The Powerhouse on Thursday, June 25.
