Raising Maisie

are a young band from Brighton: Max, Charlie, Tom and Cookie. Tonight they’ll be playing at The Dublin Castle as part of what appears to be a pretty hectic touring schedule.

Masters of a sweet combination of honky tonk pop and indie surf sounds, these Maisie maestros certainly seem to have something to offer for the spring/summer soundtrack. I am thinking a young Ben Folds (times four) crossed with Hello Goodbye. Prep Pop – is that even a genre?

Listening to their debut album, Etc. Etc, I found myself willing them on to develop and grow as a band. Many of the songs show serious pop promise, such as Oh Yeah!, whilst others fall short with overly contrived middle eights (Yes here it is). The vocals when left free to carry the songs alone, as on Lost & Found, really demonstrate lead singer Max Langley’s potential. Not all bands are blessed with a good lead singer so I’d push for more raw exposure of Langley on any second album.

It’ll be interesting to find out how these Brightonians perform live. If you get along tonight, let us know. Raising Maisie could well be one to watch for the summer to come.

The Camden Store Team X - The Camden Store

o put it simply, the local music scene has gotten rather tedious; new bands living in the shadow of the likes of Us and Them, A Day After Tomorrow and MiMi Soya, all acts to sadly disappear from the local area, however ‘Etc, Etc’, new EP from Raising Maisie offers all of us that small glimmer of hope all the current wannabe’s have been failing to achieve. Apart from their ‘oh-I-am-so-non-conformist’ look, this new release of theirs is rather refreshing and covers all the ground no one else has dared to yet.

My personal highlight would be ‘Yes, Here It is’, a song that with a cheery little piano and singer, Max Langley’s, accompanying vocals, is a drastic change from the attempted pig squeal usually heard at our local venues. This lovely little tune, although quite repetitive, will suit readily with the upcoming spring and the rest of the EP does follow this theme well, another favourite being ‘I Need You Baby’ which, like the previous, is deliciously British throughout the verses but with a chorus which is reminiscent of 1950’s America. Of course, if this was not the approach the quartet was aiming for then it is an area of question but ingenious if so as not only have they created something which their audiences can dance to without fear of being trampled by giant, sweaty, smelly oafs, they have done this without the use of toddlers toys and Game Boy noises and oh, how dull has that become.

Enjoyable and refreshing; sort of like sunbathing in the snow. Although, it is difficult to tell what on earth they are actually singing about, you will only feel the need to wonder if you really neither want nor need to know. (Or even if you have time; those hips aren’t going to sway themselves.) An abstract comparison, I know, but Raising Maisie is quite similar to the earlier works of punk band, The King Blues; cheap and cheerful and in all honesty, really quite good.

To conclude, ‘Etc Etc’ gives new hope to our local scene by coming from a particular angle everyone else has ignored. Everyone else is remembering ACDC, Sex Pistols etc and transforming the rules those giants have set into what has already been done by all the other big names; it seems only Raising Maisie have highlighted the brilliance of They Might Be Giants and The Cure and ever so brilliantly, brought it to our attention. So if you will, join me in congratulating these young boys in beginning what will hopefully be a new and exciting change for the local music scene that will stick around - Sound parade

Raising Maisie are not badass, intimidating or scary in any way. Neither are most hardcore, extreme metal or gangsta rap artists, but Raising Maisie aren’t pretending. Pretension is no part of their uncomplicated, well crafted, concise and extremely entertaining pop-rock.
Regular readers of my reviews will be well aware that I have tastes that encompass the experimental and the extreme, but what I really appreciate is the creativity and artistic integrity that takes musicians to those places. It takes an equal measure of those things to achieve a disciplined slice of joyful pop precision like this.
Piano is featured as prominently as guitar on this album, if not more so, which lends a more structured feel to the arrangements than is the norm in indie circles. Chord progressions are well written, with a strong sense of forward motion, and some real care has gone into charting a melodic path through them: this is proper, grown-up musicianship, in a band which I’m guessing is young and relatively inexperienced.
Instrumental resources are creatively exploited to develop a range of textures, creating pleasing variety within a consistent band sound: acoustic and electric guitar, both clean and overdriven, and a variety of keyboard sounds (including some juicy analogue noises) all find their place. The playing is very song focussed, rhythmically tight and dynamically controlled, with little or no showing off, although the guitarist pulls out some tasty licks occasionally. From a nerdy muso perspective the drummer is the star of the show, and not just for his volcanic solo in ‘Jump Out’. They say a band is never better than its drummer: on this album every drum part is perfectly judged with a light feel that makes the grooves lift propulsively, and a precise execution that provides an unshakeable foundation for band and dancers alike.
The songs don’t attempt to tackle any big themes: they deal with the experience of being young, energetic and horny in a way that eschews cleverness or analysis, and simply presents observations with wit, amusement and sincerity. Although there are plenty of romantic disappointments in these lyrics, you get the impression the characters in the songs will bounce back pretty much unscathed: a wistful optimism is the predominant mood.
The vocal delivery is charismatic and committed, with a strong sense of sincerity and engagement, and a marked lack of bombast or rock ‘n’ roll swagger. It will be too self-consciously fey for some tastes, but those are probably not the tastes this music is aimed at in any case. As with the instrumental work there is a commendable dynamic control and sense of dramatic narrative, that pulls the listener into the songs, and engages their attention by doing interesting but uncontroversial things for three minutes or so (and there’s no song on the album as long as four minutes long).
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Raising Maisie getting some widespread attention with this well produced album. They fit quite easily into a marketing bracket without being at all generic, which is to say it’s clear they haven’t set out to make their music to a blueprint, or to address a demographic. These musicians love pop music, and that love comes across in every note they play. - Oliver Arditi