Laughing City

Are you going to catch a show (or more) this tour?
Definitely
33%
 33%  [ 3 ]
Maybe
11%
 11%  [ 1 ]
Unlikely
22%
 22%  [ 2 ]
Nope
33%
 33%  [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 9

Author Message
wilsmith
Vintage Newbie


I would have to say that as far as male fronted bands are concerned The Dear Hunter is one of the few acts of Eisley's generation I would compare to them in regards to the variety of styles they play, and pool of influences they draw from at any given time. I saw the Dear Hunter spring 2015, and they were excellent.

This will be Eisley's second major tour with the new line-up, and first with material written for this incarnation of the band, so expect growth and confidence. Christie/ Merriment, continues to write & tour, and her confidence matches her consistency. Last time I saw Merriment, they were touring with a new line-up and opening for Dustin Kensrue (summer 2015 I think, I didn't even know they were on the bill actually).

It'll be interesting to see how they coordinate the Eisley & Merriment sets. During the Sucre / Merriment / Honey Trees tour members of the Honey Trees played roles in each band's set. Christie & Remington will likely do the same on this tour, and who knows, maybe Garron as well (as in, they may all play in Merriment & Eisley)? I don't know if any of the members of the last touring incarnation of Merriment beside Remington were considered permanent fixtures in the band, so the Puckett sisters could just as well play with Merriment too, replacing Collin & Karsyn. Who knows?[/i]

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Last edited by wilsmith on Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:03 pm; edited 1 time in total
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norad
Vintage Newbie


I'm flying to another state for an Eisley concert (thankfully it's one of the headlining shows). But mostly just to visit Meredith.
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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


The Merriment lineup for the recent short tour was Christie and all guys from what I saw on Instagram.

I probably won't see Eisley, but that's nothing against them. I don't go to shows much anymore. If they played a warm up show in Tyler or close by I would probably go.
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wilsmith
Vintage Newbie


As far as players in Merriment circa July 2015, the bass player and lead guitar player were friends of hers/ coworkers. She had a backup vocalist who seemed familiar, and Remington was on drums. Christie played acoustic guitar throughout the set, which she didn't do much, if any of, on the Sucre tour (September 2014), if I remember correctly.
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TheAntrider
Protocol Droid


I can't really make it to any of the Texas shows because of work commitments/general exhaustion. But I am eying 1-2 shows in D.C. Yes, flying to another state after a 30 minute car ride is still easier than driving 6-ish hours and dealing with Dallas or whatnot. Though I could likely make Austin if it weren't for work ... I'd prefer to make it to a headlining show, because I mostly just want to see Eisley.
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wilsmith
Vintage Newbie


So the show last night was very good and I'll be doing a review for playbackstl.com . Just a few notes for Eisley fans:


Gavin Castleton will appeal to you if you dig the indie rock version of jazzy r & b mixed with a little progressive jazz. If Sucre and MUTEMATH were touring, he would be a good fit with the extremes of those two groups, bridging that cool, sophisticated, but urbane vibe with enough pop sensibility to not be esoteric. I got a Paul Simon vibe, well the most recent Paul Simon records, which are wonderful blends of electro-ambient vibes and clever and sometimes humorous wordplay. He did start rapping towards the end of one song, which was unexpected, but brief enough to not be to jarring. That earned him some Jason Mraz & Matt Costa comparisons http://gavincastelton.bandcamp.com

Eisley sounded the most polished I've ever heard them. There performances are usually solid live, but there were 0, absolutely NO technical glitches, feedback, or miscues. It helped that they were playing one of our relatively newer venues that was built specifically for bands of this style.

Sherri was more self-conscious vocally, but also more ambitious at times. Christie handled mostly lower harmonies and a few of the lead parts in songs where they traded off. There were moments where her confidence really seemed to come to the fore and she sounded great. I would have liked to see her take a on more leads, maybe even play a little guitar as a relief to Sherri who went so far as to say "Thanks for watching pretend to know how to play guitar!" at the end of the set, before setting it down to sing Shelter. That was a little deflating for those of us who like her playing and would love to see her be more confident about it.

Here's a bit of the other new song: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKmYn1jDlWW/?taken-by=isthiswill

Garron, Elle, and Remington, along with Jedidiah Lachman (replacing Shaelene Puckett on keys) really locked into the grooves, and livened up the other tunes. The newer songs held together really well, and took on a more organic vibe, which must have been a byproduct of their chemistry. The biggest loss from the old line-up is probably the loss of the 3rd vocalist. The thing that I have yet to figure out is that Elle isn't singing. She actually is pretty comparable to Chauntelle vocally, as she sings in a great alto. Don't believe me, this is her singing lead with Poema https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rD5UIVbLcA

The main time I picked up on it was the outro of Smarter. The set, which was consistent with what was on setlist.fm for their headlining dates, leaned heavy on the Valley and Currents. Lion, which leads off the set, is the other new song, and my favored choice over Defeatist. Both sounded good and the set was well constructed to flow pretty smoothly as far as the newer songs. The older tunes did feel like departures at times, which did liven up the set in some ways. The choices from Room Noises (Plenty of Paper, Golly Sandra, Brightly Wound) were like a mini-set unto themselves. Invasion and Smarter felt like outliers amidst an otherwise midtempo and melodic set. They closed with Shelter, and the update of that arrangement is worthy of being recorded and released. The really took it to another level by incorporating the band into songs as it swells into the chorus's mix so they are less accents to the vocal, piano, and strings, and actually ground Shelter in a way that made it feel like a triumph without stealing from its beauty. You could tell they were really feeling it. The crowd was eating it up.

The Dear Hunter were very good, just as they were last time. They lean towards being theatrical musically, but not in an overwrought way, and didn't indulge into much that was heavy. Very much a modern spin on the style of Jeremy Enighk's Return of the Frog Queen in a way, lots of carnival type/ vaudeville-like tunes with sinister underpinnings and poetic narratives. The crowd was very engaged and singing along to their set, and I don't recall that the last time I saw them in the same venue, which was maybe a year and a half ago??? It was a great show.

The merch table had some really nice T-Shirts, 3/5 were pretty gender neutral in their designs, and two were Sherri Prints. They said they sold out of a eisley/ say anything split with the new single.

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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


Was Golly Sandra a Christie lead?
I think I heard that Stacy wrote that about Christie.
The 7" thing seems weird to me that they would not promote it online in some way - the bands involved or the label. I would think at least one fan would post a picture of it. I wonder if they are talking about the older split that is still in stock at Equal Vision.

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wilsmith
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Sherri took all the main leads on the songs, Christie did the co-lead on Brightly Wound, and the bridge on another song, I forgot which one that was that had that part.

I assumed she might have been mistaken and that it was the Valentine's Day split EP but I didn't even realize they had this one http://eisley.merchnow.com/products/208887/eisley-split-clear

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bigideas
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Valentine's Day EP?
You'll have to remind me what that was.

That 7" is several years old. You must have forgotten. It has one of the demo songs Lost and Found, but I think it was re-recorded by Sherri at that time. There is probably a thread on this. I don't think the EisleyBlog ones disappear.
It looks to be from May 2013.
I think it was released in different colors and the one board member Bill wanted one of each.

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wilsmith
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There was a split that had 192 Days & Say Anything (the song) as the sides that came out in maybe 2012?

I thought there was vinyl, but maybe not http://www.sayanythingmusic.com/send-your-sweetheart-a-song/

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bigideas
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A month passed and not a single other live review.
I wonder if they introduced any more new songs into the setlist later in the tour.

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wilsmith
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I see that they have worked other favorites in here and there, and that the headline sets are pushing 18-19 songs vs. 11 opening for the Dear Hunter. I have a feeling they are saving that for the spring tour. I wonder who else will have a release around that time that they might tour with?

I also have a feelings there's some residual impacts from the line-up shift that may have people reticent to share their opinions given how contentious the board has been in the past regarding musical tastes and performance.

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