Austin Sound

Hollywood Gossip’s debut EP closes with the song “Something’s Happening,” a joyful pop collision apparently intended as an ode to Austin and its music scene. It’s a fantastic tune, and culls an array of notable local artists like Miranda Brown, Jeff Johnston, the Breather’s Claire Hamilton, and Voxtrot’s Jason Chronis and Jared Van Fleet into an exuberant closing chorus, warbling out “Everyone is a part of it” into a ragged guitar solo. The song is both self-consciously mocking and lovingly celebratory of the scene - which of course warrants both – opening with a hard bouncing declaration: “Bad haircuts, no prudence, 5 p.m., drunk with the students. You know we’re alright.” The following expose of the “young city” and “kids with naïve symphonies” only testifies to the fact that, like or not, everyone is indeed a part of it.