Lissie - Catching a Tiger
California native Lissie Maurus makes a man sick to his stomach. Not because she’s no good – rather the exact opposite. Catching a Tiger is a debut that dreams beyond typical new artist parameters. It is the work of a girl who looks, even with a fag hanging from her pale lips, like an alt-fashion model. But she sounds like one of the greatest female vocalists of a generation, arguably without even really trying.
High praise, but hang in there: qualification’s coming. Covers have courted attention in certain quarters of the press – Lady Gaga here (watch on Youtube), Metallica there (watch on Youtube) – and a live duet with Ellie Goulding (watch on Youtube) hasn’t harmed her chances of considerable exposure around the release of this 12-track collection of country-tinged radio rock (think late-60s, early-70s Laurel Canyon vibes, with more than a pinch of Fleetwood Mac, given a contemporary kick).
But beyond the gimmicks there’s a talent evident within seconds of opener Record Collector. Kitchen-cupboard percussion clatters, and then: “I’m tired of saying that I won’t get lost ever again… Who knows, maybe I will.” It’s half-spoken, half-sung; it sounds angelic like few voices have this side of the millennium bug meltdown that never was. Not wholly celestial, grounded as it is in spit and sawdust, but reaching for an emotional connect with the listener that few new artists can aim for without sounding forced, pushed to the very extremities of their abilities.
That’s why Lissie sounds special from the off: not once here does she enunciate uncomfortably, never overstretching to the detriment of the song in question. The way words tumble rapidly during the verses of When I’m Alone is nothing new, but they’re offset by pre-chorus peaks that make evident the way she can ease up the octaves with a confidence that will always lift an arrangement, however ordinary it is in comparison to its vocalist. Which is good, as there are relatively pedestrian pieces here; tracks that in the hands of another would fade from the memory faster than an early-doors Big Brother evictee. Cuckoo is hard strums and shimmery production but ultimately hollow of design, and Worried About stomps itself into a go-nowhere circle – but both are brightened brilliantly by vivacious, vitalised vocals.
Lissie does not fully earn her an-artist-apart stripes with Catching a Tiger, but all the signs are here. Give the girl a second and she’ll steal your heart; give her another album and she will, quite possibly, become untouchable.
Our Verdict : 5/5
Lissie
Lissie
Lissie Maurus (born c. 1982), known by her stage name Lissie, is an American folk rock artist. She released her debut EP, "Why You Runnin'", in November 2009. Her debut album, Catching A Tiger, is slated for release in June 2010.
Lissie was born and raised in Rock Island, Illinois. Her father is a physician and her mother is an interior designer. She was interested in singing and music from an early age. She played the title role of the musical Annie at the age of nine. "In high school it seems like everyone has more drama than any other time in their life. So that was the time in my life where I really leaned on music as a way to stay sane," she said in an interview.
In her senior year of high school, she was expelled "over something stupid that [she] did, but it was sort of like the culmination of just a lot of negative things that had happened".[1] She got her degree at an alternative outreach center. She spent two years at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, during which time she would open for musicians who visited the city. She collaborated with DJ Harry of SCI Fidelity Records on a song, "All My Life", which was featured on television shows House, The O.C., Veronica Mars and Wildfire. After spending a semester in Paris, she finished her studies to pursue a career in music. In 2007 she produced a four-song EP that received some airplay on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic.
In early 2008 Lenny Kravitz invited her to be the opening act for his Love Revolution Tour, after a friend tipped him about her MySpace page. Later that year, "The Longest Road", a song she co-wrote with DJ Morgan Page reached #4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "We met under that idea that he was going to remix a song of mine (...) But we decided to work on a new song together", she told the Quad-City Times.
Her debut EP, "Why You Runnin'", produced by Bill Reynolds of Band of Horses, was released in November 2009 on Fat Possum. One of the songs, "Oh Mississippi" was co-written with Ed Harcourt, whom she met through a mutual friend. The EP was listed amongst Paste magazine's "Eight Most Auspicious Musical Debuts of 2009". In Early 2010 she toured various venues in the United Kingdom supporting Ohio-born singer-songwriter Joshua Radin.
Lissie's debut album, Catching a Tiger, is due to be released 21 June 2010. The album was recorded in Nashville in 2009 and produced by Jaquire King. The first single from the album, "In Sleep", was selected as Track of The Day by Q on 13 March 2010. A second single, "When I'm Alone", is due for release alongside the album on June 21.