Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NOT ALL IN THE FAMILY
Echosmith joins forces with friends for summer tour
Alt-pop band Echosmith will be opening for Pentatonix as the sibling trio comes off their own massive headlining tour across the U.S. The band’s catchy new single, “Over My Head,” continues climbing in streams and attention and is described as infectious — a word just as easily used to characterize lead singer/keyboardist Sydney Sierota.
“I’m really excited,” she begins the conversation — and many of her sentences. “We’ve met [Pentatonix] a bunch of times, and I’ve hung out with Kristin (Maldonado) a bunch, so it’s really cool to go on tour with people you actually know and are friends with and hang out with on purpose in your off time. It’s the first time we’re going to get to do that with another band. I think it will be a lot of great chemistry between all the artists.”
Trimming their set from 75 minutes on their own headlining tour to just 30 for Pentatonix’s summer tour wasn’t easy, but Sierota is ceaselessly upbeat. She explains by phone on the very first day of the tour that they plan to keep the set loose and interactive to introduce the new crowds to their style.
“We want everyone to leave feeling happier and feeling better about their life. We want them to just be in the moment and feel love from the stage. So that’s been our goal with music,” she says of her often noted crowd interaction.
“Our whole goal is to connect, and that can be in a lot of different ways. I love taking videos on my phone from the stage, and I think it’s so fun to watch those while waiting to board my flight the next day. I love documenting with my phone, and having that memory on my personal device.”
Shot into the spotlight with their 2013 debut album “Talking Dreams” — with singles “Bright” and “Cool Kids” going Platinum (the latter 3x) — Sierota and brothers Noah (vocals/bass) and Graham (drums) grew up as best friends and are enjoying the ride together.
“I think that’s what makes it so special and so fun for us is that we actually want to be together,” she shares. “And when we’re on stage interacting, and I run over to Noah and we share a mic for a couple lines, it’s actually a really sweet moment for us.
“There’s sometimes, even if we were fighting that day, over something stupid usually, it feels like it’s kind of healing in a way. I’ll go over to him, and we’ll sing together, and then I look into his eyes and I’m like, ‘OK, I do love you.’ I think it’s really fun singing with our family for so many reasons.”