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deliciouspickles
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Marvelous Things" ahead for Eisley

Jessica Keaton

Published Friday, January 16, 2004

"Marvelous Things" ahead for Eisley

In 1998, a group of four siblings emerged in Tyler, Texas, and proceeded to charm the local music scene with their creativity and maturity. The group was Eisley, and the siblings Chauntelle, Sherri, Weston and Stacy Dupree, quickly became one of the most sensational acts in that region. As their popularity expanded, they added family friend Jonathan Wilson as a bass player, and their gigs grew from performances in local church basements to appearances at well-known music festivals.

Eisley garnered national recognition last year by opening for Coldplay during their United States tour. The subsequent outpouring of support for the group led them to create two EPs, "Laughing City" and the recently released "Marvelous Things," to satisfy their new-found fans.

In "Marvelous Things," Eisley has combined haunting vocals and fantastical lyrics with subdued bass and guitar rhythms. The result is an EP that highlights Eisley's uniquely developed, mellow sound, a sound that is made even more unique by the ages of the group members: The oldest, Chauntelle, is 21, while the youngest, Stacy, is 15.

The title track from "Marvelous Things" serves as a perfect example of Eisley's blend of bittersweetness and whimsy. The song sounds like "Alice in Wonderland" set to music: it combines wildly fanciful images with somber melodies to provoke feelings of eeriness and wonder. Nonsensical lines like "I followed a rabbit / through rows of mermaid entwined shrubbery" seem creepy when Sherri and Stacy deliver them in solemn, ethereal voices.

Next on the EP is "Memories," a slow, melancholy song that uses Eisley's poetic lyrics to describe a troubled relationship between a husband and wife. Throughout the song, Eisley uses its lyrical talents to form vivid images and expresses the characters' emotions: "His cap pulled down roun' his ears to hide the smile and watery tears." The highlight of this track comes near the end, when Sherri and Stacy portray a dialogue between the couple. The lyrics give a supernatural feel to the characters while highlighting the distance between the two: a particularly colorful section has the "husband" saying, "Distant tho I am / orange, gold, and green / firing, flaming, colors surround me."

After the somberness of "Memories" comes "Sea King," a light-hearted tune that envelops you in an underwater world while pointing out the necessity of love. Synthesized bubbling sounds and the wave-like rhythm of the song reinforce the image of an aquatic dreamland. Meanwhile, Eisley's lyrics show bits of experience hidden among innocent reflections: "Sea King, Sea king, can't you see that you're so silly? / Sea King, I know things, and without love you won't get far."

The last song on "Marvelous Things" is "The Winter Song," a poignant reflection about a snowy winter day. Again, Eisley manages to capture subtle images and emotions with their simple, yet powerful, lyrics. Lines like, "Walking home with the snow / It is falling down / Passing by lit windows / The people inside / They wave from the glow" evoke the peacefulness of a winter night. Overall, "The Winter Song" makes you feel as though you should be sitting inside with friends, drinking a cup of hot chocolate, and watching the snow fall outside your window.

Eisley's "Marvelous Things" is a solid EP that evokes a whirl of emotion with each song. Though the disc contains only four tracks, each song showcases Eisley's talents and whets your appetite for their upcoming full-length album.

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deliciouspickles
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i found this while looking for lyrics... they seem to like it ok. Very Happy
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MomentumShift
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...once again, another good review. Maybe we should just start sending these all into rolling stone so they might get the point that eisley does have more talent than most bands they review
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homesick_alien
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who did the person write for?
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Sprocket
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I really liked that review. It shows a certain care and attention in that the writer has actually spent time listening to the songs. I think it's a really well written and "mature" review - something which doesn't feature in the (I'm guessing?) bigger-buget Rolling Stone reviews. 'Tis good. Smile
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AwakeAndLovingIt
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i like how they noted the "wave-like" format of sea king- i couldnt agree more. that shows how well eisley writes songs, either by incident or purposely trying to make them fit like that. Smile
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homesick_alien
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so yeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaa for good reviews Cool

Jessica Keaton goes into our "good" list Wink

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Squirly
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homesick_alien wrote:
so yeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaa for good reviews Cool

Jessica Keaton goes into our "good" list Wink

indeed
*scratches Jessica Keaton off of the "To Whack" list....

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killabikini
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MomentumShift wrote:
Maybe we should just start sending these all into rolling stone so they might get the point


agreed.

im glad to see more good press. thats exciting.

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Gameboybob
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Jessica Keaton isnt going to get the angry mob treatment.
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tonynierowieczrules
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yeah there are like two sources out there i trust: Mojo Magazine and Allmusic.com.

i believe Heather Phares wrote a review of the EP but i don't recall any of it.

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boyd
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nice words... I'm starting to get thick skinned about reviews... and that's
good. There will be reviews O plenty when the full length gets here. I'm
foreshadowing great reviews... but there will be many who hate anything
that's not hard or has attitude.

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trav
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Its sort of important not to just write off all bad reviews as "wrong", or to believe that they were focusing on a lack of edge or attitude. Sometimes, believe it or not, reviews can offer constructive criticism. Or you can just ignore them, whatever.
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TheAntrider
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boyd wrote:
but there will be many who hate anything
that's not hard or has attitude.

Or people who have high snob factor demands. Those people drive me nuts.

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definingawesome (11:44:11 PM): Eisley shivers our timbers
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