I love the DuPree family, they of my basically favorite group, Eisley. Stacy uses her married name now (King) and Christie, the youngest DuPree, isn’t actually in Eisley, but it counts. They’re both ridiculously talented, and I have a giant soft spot for Stacy as per she is the group’s keyboardist, and I love Christie madly. So.
Stacy’s solo project (that isn’t really solo it’s with her husband Darren King and also Jeremy Larson), Sucré, has its first album, A Minor Bird, that is technically not released until tomorrow, but it’s streamed on HelloGiggles a day in advance, so here, have a review!
“Hiding Out.” Yes, Stacy’s voice is lovely and interesting and makes me have feelings.
“When We Were Young.” Oh, hot damn, orchestrations. I saw the video for this when it was released a little while back, but I’m now listening to it again and hot damn, orchestrations. This track is grand. I don’t mean that in the synonymous-with-fabulous way, though it is, I mean that in the synonymous-with-spectacular way. This is sort of like the retro orchestration that’s found on an Adele or a Duffy track.
“Troubled Waters.” Well, oops, did I just start building a new fanmix? I think I might have. From me, that is high praise, Stacy King.
“Light Up.” Aw, this is sweet. This is cute and sentimental and endearing. And thank you for making your vocal trills interesting and not just riffing for riffing’s sake. Actually, just thank you for making music that I can listen to and go “aw” about and not be simultaneously repulsed by, because sentimentality that I can stomach is fantastic.
“Chemical Reaction.” /immediate latching onto for reasons. This started out all grand and now it’s precious and whimsical and wacky and there’s Stacy, just adorable-ing it up. It’s sounded like three different songs but cohesively, they all sound like one song, but it transitions. Oh my gosh, and can I just say how excited I am about a song actually containing the phrase “it’s a chemical reaction” and not being glib about it, just being honest, because love is a chemical reaction and when people acknowledge that I feel very happy inside. Also, I have an irrational love for songs that go past the 4:00 time mark.
“Say Something.” Such pretty sounds. Such. Pretty. Sounds. This is kind of Florence and the Machine-y, in the the kind of “like them” that I enjoy simply. Also, for as much as I say that this sounds like something else, it really doesn’t sound like anything else, completely. It’s its own album. And that rocks. It feels like a whole collection of things, but it’s a unique blend of everything, and I like it. I like it an awful lot. Also, whoa, orchestrations.
“Endless Sleep.” Whooooops. Sucré, are you just trying to make me want to mix with you? It’s working. This is haunting in a really lovely way. Not necessarily melancholy, not entirely creepy, but somewhat eerie. Mmm. Yes.
“No Return.” Aw, accordion. Which I have mixed feelings about, but here in a collection of songs I am so far enjoying, I can go with it in a sweet Amelie way. It’s not too House Hunters International, so that’s good. And Stacyvoice ties everything together so nicely. This is the most fangirly album liveblog that has ever been, I’m afraid, but I really am enjoying this. I like ladyvoices doing interesting things. Oh, and what is that percussion, hello.
“Persuasion.” Yes, all right. This is a nice love song because it is about love that grows, not love that is instant. It’s something, but it becomes something more meaningful with time and thought and yes I love that. I love thoughtful love so very much. And there should really be more songs about it. I support that. “I couldn’t dream you up.” Uhm. Yes.
“Stampede.” Oh, more with the grand. This is a very full-sounding album, and that’s awesome. And Stacy just does interesting things with her voice. Combinations of notes that I would not have otherwise thought of necessarily.
And finally, “The Cliff Waltz.” Piano, hurrah. Pianosounds make me happy. And thank you for all of the beautiful sustained vowels, Stacy, they are lovely. Yes.
I was maybe just listening to the most recent Eisley EP Deep Space repeatedly today, but this sort of feels tonally similar to it. The slower, mellower, feelingsier atmosphere of it. (Not that anything that any of these talented musicians produce doesn’t have feelings. But a lot of the Eisley stuff is different. Equally intense, but in more of a driven way, I suppose?) It is, again, its own very distinct thing; it’s tonally similar in the way that Sucré tracks could easily mix with tracks by the artists I’m comparing them to, because they go well together. They’re not the same, they’re complementary. Or something.
Now onto Christie’s recently-released EP, Through the Rough. This is Christie and brother Collin, doing adorable things under the recently-chosen name Merriment. And I’ve heard some of the tracks before, because I have all of the tracks available on strange-yellow-patterns and because she played some of them live last year (whoa, it was a year, almost. Weird) and also I’ve had this EP for a few weeks now so I won’t liveblog it.
But this is a precious little collection of tunes. Christie’s voice is different from any of her sisters’ voices, but it’s not that any one of them has a better voice, exactly; they’re all just interesting and unique and sweet. And I love that Christie’s is a little folksier, as per I love folksy things. It makes everything she sings really plaintive and not exactly cute, always, but very sincere. So that’s good. And definitely worth looking into, too.
Essentially, you are all super-talented and lovely, DuPree siblings.
–your fangirl heroine.
