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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