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Album Details

• Artist: Eisley
• Album: Valley
• Label: Equal Vision
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: matthewrecord on 2011-03-01

I always wonder why critics reacted to Fleetwood Mac so harshly back in the halcyon days of FM radio in the 70s.  I would imagine it seemed trifle back then but to my ears now it sound sophisticated; those subdued harmonies, the sad/major chord progressions and the subtle mix of all the instruments.  It must have been incredibly difficult to achieve and it always surprises me that the critics back then couldn't hear that.  You can string a thin thread from those albums to what Eisely it trying to do today with Valleys.  In a very real way though, Valleys comes up lacking, particularly in the pastel-colored first half.

The voices lilt and ooooh in satisfying ways from a purely asthetic point of view.  But the fluent line between how pretty this album is can't hide how vapid it ultimately is and that prevents any real enjoyment.

When the target is "plaintive" the execution is usually something more like "exasperated."  Every other emotion is similar scrambled to the point that an album that's ostensibly for sophisticated listener never comes across in the manner intended in that they always come across lacking subext, nuance or anything that feels adult.

By the time "Better Love" arrives carrying with it a little more substance, the die has already been cast.  This is, at its core, a pretty lightweight album.  That doesn't have to be a bad thing, girl fronted indie acts have made some of the best pop in recent years without trying to shoot the moon thematically: Tegan & Sara, Camera Obscura, Imogen Heap; but there's an atmosphere of grandiosity that implies Eisely was gunning for more.  To hear this distinction embodied, take Mr. Moon, which begins with a lush and very sad verse only to let all the built up tension fall away into a nothing of a chorus.

There could have been something here but Eisley squadered any goodwill by mixing it into a swill of too-perfect soft rock radio and a series of haphazard choruses.  In an effort for sophistication Eisely traded away any semblance of artistry.

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