Artist Eisley
Album Room Noises
Released 2005
Label Reprise
The vocally driven band Eisley features three sisters, their brother, and their first cousin, Eisley and formed in 1997 in Tyler, Texas. Their whimsical alternative pop caught on and they won the 2003 Best New Act Award from the Dallas Observer. Later that year, they released their debut EP, Laughing City, and toured with Coldplay and Ron Sexmith.
On their debut album, Room Noise, Eisley pick up where their 2003 EP Laughing City and Marvelous Things left off; cascading melodies mixed with a heavy dose of suburban adolescence. Composed of four siblings and a childhood best friend these alternative rockers use their Christian home-schooled background as the base of much of their material. This works for many of the songs especially since this quintet is about the average age of the typical Lindsey Lohan admirer.
The album opens with lead singer Staci DuPree painting a melancholy yet uplifting picture with “Memories”. Her voice, reminiscent of Leigh Nash from Sixpence None The Richer, is grating at first listen, but eventually settles into a nice groove. Room Noises really starts picking up steam with the timeless rocker “Golly Sandra” that seems as if it could have been written anytime between 1920 through 1950. The tracks that work best start slowly, quickly building into a mid tempo groove. “Marvelous Things”, and “Brightly Wounded” use this devise to great effect.
It’s to their credit that Eisley steers clear of unrequited love songs and issues of parental angst. Instead they focus on things that they actually believe or have a knowledge of; faith that good will overcome evil, every cloud having a silver lining, all mixed with a undercurrent of despondency. While comparisons to early 10,000 Maniacs, Belly, and The Cranberries echo throughout Room Noises, Eisley is just slightly distinct enough to edge themselves apart from the pack.
This album is the perfect backdrop for a rainy summer day: sunny and bright but with that edge of dreamy sadness tossed in for good measure. Hopefully, on their next release, Eisley will allow a little more of those gray skies to creep into their sunny sadness if only for a few minutes.
- By MIKE SAMETZ
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