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The Maple State have hit on a formula which, while
not exactly winning, probably deserves some credit:
make the first track the worst one then, when you've
lowered everyone's expectations, slowly build them up
again until you put the best you can offer at the end.
This may not, however, be enough as while the lads
went down a treat at Brixton Academy last year
supporting Blink182 side-project +44, on the evidence
here, they're not much more than an average emo band,
taking a bit too much from across the Atlantic when
they're actually from Stockport.
This might not sound like something to damn them
for, but you'll understand when you listen for
something - indeed anything - that you could say
defines their sound, that makes them distinctive. It's
just not there.
Don't Take Holidays is the kind of track that would
make a passable Green Day b-side; the eponymous Say,
Scientist has some interesting keyboards, but we
already have a million bands that sound like this.
Still, they may be able to milk the fact that not many
of these are home-grown. Luckily for them, there are
probably more than enough sullen Northern brats
looking for a Fall Out Boy to call their own to keep
The Maple State's career going for a long while yet.
And the band does have its moments. Temperate Lives
is a great anthem, and guitarist Christian Counsell
can play a mean riff. The furious energy of Starts
With Dean Moriarty gives a glimpse of why they're
building up a strong live following.
Balancing the scales, it's also important to
remember that this is a work in progress - a
mini-album en route to their proper debut, honing
their skill and testing the water with new tunes and
re-recordings of 'old ones'. It's probably not meant
to be the absolute best they can offer.
All told, Say, Scientist probably does do what it
set out to. It introduces you to The Maple State,
convinces you they're a competent enough band in the
mould of Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte
and Blink182 and, in final track You And Me And
An X-Ray Machine, suggests there's something in there
that could rise above the crowd.
Enough to make you want to come back in a few
months and see how they're getting on, anyway.
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