Music Review: Lissie, “Catching a Tiger”

Posted by staticblog

on August 20, 2010M at 9:52 am

Rating: 65
An exponent of Los Angeles’ neo-folk scene, Elisabeth “Lissie” Maurus’ full-length debut, “Catching a Tiger,” follows the still-unfolding trend (see Ra Ra Riot’s “The Orchard”) of the underground wrapping its arms around classic Fleetwood Mac. Recorded in Nashville, Tenn., with a number of producers, “Catching a Tiger” consequently feels inconsistent, like Lissie’s strong voice has been grafted into several crazy-quilted squares. So, some tracks succeed like gangbusters, and others feel like self-conscious stretches. But nearly all sound like they were cooked up in Laurel Canyon, before new wave and hair-metal took over the clubs down on Sunset Boulevard.

“In Sleep”

Lissie’s obvious high point on “Catching a Tiger” comes on “In Sleep,” in which her powerful vocals evoke Stevie Nicks in their early, less-histrionic phase and is complimented by an extended guitar coda that could have come directly from the fingers of Lindsey Buckingham. That Mac influence is also in full flower on the sunny pop of “Cuckoo” and on the more idiosyncratic “Stranger,” which echoes Buckingham when the odd genius is characteristically picking through Buddy Holly’s bag of tricks.

The one track that departs dramatically from the formula is “Bully,” a hook-laden ballad made roughly gorgeous by an orchestral wall of guitars. There are moments when Lissie can veer into generic blandness (“Loosen the Knot”), and her morose closing ballad written with Ed Harcourt, “Oh Mississippi,” has more moss growing on it than hanging over it. The lion’s share of “Catching a Tiger” is strong, but it cries out for a more unified production strategy, one that would have made this gold-dust woman’s dreams feel less like secondhand news.
– Lang

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