 Echoes , Silence , Patience & Grace offers a mix of both electric and acoustic songs , which Grohl likened to the band growing older and " comfortable with all kinds of music " instead of just focusing on straight rock songs , saying that listening to the album he felt like " we 've gotten over our insecurities , because it presents us in a way that we probably hid in the past . " Grohl also stated that " the idea now is to step up and make [ The Zombies ' ] <unk> and Oracle " - the album he claimed to have listened the most during production - and that " it has always been my dream to mix Steely Dan with <unk> . " Amidst the amount of heavier tracks and themes Grohl decided to include the song " Cheer Up , Boys ( Your Make Up Is Running ) " , described as " the most light @-@ hearted , melodic song of all " which " seemed like a little ray of hope in the middle of all this despair . " Grohl added that there was a bigger focus on melodies even in heavier tracks such as " The Pretender " , " Let It Die " and " Erase / Replace " , and that album closer " Home " , a ballad featuring Grohl on the piano , was " the best song I 've ever written " . 
