The Maple State – Say,Scientist

• 7th Mar 2008

Manchester’s The Maple State are obviously desperate to keep themselves in the front of the music media’s mind to capitalise on their relative popularity, and so are releasing a new ‘6 song mini-album’, which in reality means some re-hashed old songs and a couple of new ones that aren’t quite good enough to be released as singles. Have they never heard the old theatre adage “always leave them hungry”?

The problem with this is that it just doesn’t do them justice. They’re a band with a lot of (admittedly indie) potential, so when you press play and are confronted with the sort of badly-recorded, scatty song that a newly-formed band might kick out, it’s a bit disappointing. At least by the time we get to the end of the mini-album, or malbum as I might start calling it (would that catch on?) the recording standard has improved, but you still feel like you’re listening to the kind of album filler that’s only justified by having a startlingly good tune just before it.

The way to kick out great albums is to record double the amount of material you need then pick the best and release those, and I just don’t believe that’s what the Maple State have done on this one. Even if you’re a fan, its probably best to give it a miss.