A place still exists where music is innocent. To be free of any kind of corporate pressure, of years of public resentment, and free of any kind of jaded worldview that comes with years of being in the music industry is a surprising thing, indeed.
Eisley has it.
Perhaps it’s their age. You might say that a band comprised of elegant young beautiful people in the age bracket of 15 to 22 would have a tough time getting any sort of jaded worldview at all, and you’d probably be right. Eisley honed their chops in a coffeeshop in Tyler, Texas — built by their parents in a building that doubled as the local church. It was a family affair from the very beginning, and Chauntelle, Sherri, Weston and Stacey were one of the featured musical acts every weekend.
They were also the busgirls.
Time grew older, and so did the DuPree family. They took the simple pop music of their youth and formed it according to their influences, but never losing sight of the fact that they wanted an original sound. They also expanded out of the tiny Tyler coffeehouse and mixed themselves into the thriving Dallas Deep Ellum music scene, where artists such as Chomksy, Bowling For Soup, The Vanished, and Radiant were garnering national attention and critical acclaim. Suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of Eisley, and Coldplay was the first to come calling. Tours with Brand New and Snow Patrol soon followed. During each tour, they developed and nurtured a unique style that can’t help but bring you back to the days of your youth, when every waking moment was spent exploring the woods in search of some unnamed treasure. The thrill was not in finding something that had never been found before — it was in the chase, in the memories, and in the friendships that were formed along the way.
So it is with Room Noises, the first full-length major label record offering from Eisley. Following hot on the heels of the double-EP barntstormer Marvelous Things and Laughing City, Eisley reaches the national shores via Reprise Records and some very inventive tunes that’ll ingrain themselves deep inside your psyche and never let go.
Highlights of the record include the first single Telescope Eyes, a wonderful song that, at first glance, seems to detail the loving relationship between a beautiful girl and a robot. Of course, it’s always about more than just that, and so it is with both this and the rest of the songs. Eisley have a knack for writing about the simple things in life, but doing so in grand style. They evoke pure fantasty in lyrics such as “i followed a rabbit through rows of mermaid-entwined shrubbery” on “Marvelous Things,” and also display a knack for the elegant and simple, such as the line reminding a love that “here’s a song for you lovely / remember that it’s for you only.”
Trying to make a comparison between Eisley and other bands is impossible, but I’d at least wager that if you’re a fan of Coldplay, Travis, Snow Patrol, Death Cab For Cutie, or the literary masterpiece Alice in Wonderland, you’ll probably enjoy Room Noises.
Eisley haven’t made the perfect record. They’re far too young for that. What they have created, however, is a collection of material that is far too strong to simply indicate the offerings of a first-time band. This is music to get lost to; it’s music that will transport you back to those golden days of your youth, when building castles and winning the princess next door seemed entirely possible.
