Track Review

Maggie Cassidy set date for new track ‘Runaway’.

Maggie Cassidy are a five-piece pop band hailing from Guildford, Surrey. The band manage to strike a chord with listeners through their catchy and intelligent approach to songwriting. With ‘Leaking Love‘ and ‘Guide Me‘ as stand out examples.

The release of their new track ‘Runaway‘ this Friday (9th August) provides me with a good opportunity to remind the Nexus audience of the talent possessed by the five-piece. On the other hand, it is a great time for an introduction to them if you are not as familiar as you could be with Maggie Cassidy.

Previous release ‘Guide Me‘ by Maggie Cassidy.

There are times when writing an article that I ask myself what I should focus on. What the structure of an article should be and how it should develop. Then again, there are instances like today where I find myself being easily swept along with a review. This isn’t common for me, although I do feel passionate about all of the tracks and artists that I get to review at Nexus. The beauty of me acknowledging this is that I hope you realise just what it is that Maggie Cassidy brings to the table.

“From honing the skills of their vocal to understanding the energy that is embedded in the track. There is a distinct improvement on a track-by-track basis.”

At face (or ear) value, it is the delivery of a product that is structured, catchy and pleasing. But if you take the time to really appreciate the tinkering that has so obviously gone into their releases, you get a much bigger picture. From honing the skills of their vocal to understanding the energy that is embedded in the track. There is a distinct improvement on a track-by-track basis. I couldn’t honestly tell you which I prefer more, ‘Guide Me‘ or ‘Leaking Love‘. Lyrically ‘Leaking Love‘ is smarter, more defined and radio-worthy. But this doesn’t mean that ‘Guide Me‘ isn’t any of them. It’s just that ‘Leaking Love‘ borrows the soul that Maggie Cassidy clearly found in ‘Guide Me‘ and found another level. There is an uplifting quality in ‘Leaking Love‘ that is reminiscent of ‘Guide Me‘. But it is fresh all the same.

” If you asked me what it is that Maggie Cassidy offer to an audience of their listeners? My answer would be ‘What don’t they offer?’ “

I have such a pleasantly difficult task in aiming to further describe a new addition to the catalogue of Maggie Cassidy. Their latest addition is due for release this Friday (9th August). And being titled ‘Runaway‘ it unapologetically takes a swerve in a slightly different direction to the previous releases, but not too far from the winning formula.

At its core, ‘Runaway‘ is everything you have come to expect of Maggie Cassidy, whilst being so much more. Vocally pleasing, instrumentally astute and all housed inside a setting that is as structurally sound as a medievil castle. Just with the addition of a modern upgrade to its interior and the installaiton of a defined sound system obviously… But to avert my mind from further drifting into a metaphor that could couple up as the greatest DIY S.O.S episode to date (get on it BBC) let me continue.

Maggie Cassidy
Maggie Cassidy

Runaway‘ sits comfortably amongst its predecessors. Presenting more wholesome, bold and urgent energy early on in the track. Making for any long term investment that you have much more rewarding. The chorus will hit you in the face around 00:23 seconds. Now, I know one thing about hits (because I’m clearly well placed to judge…). It’s that most of the time, you want to get to the bridge/chorus as quickly as you can. People want to be hit directly in the feels as quickly as possible with minimal build-up.

” This next track is going to shoot for the moon. With the right coverage, trust me, you’ll see people talking about Maggie Cassidy

Challenge me on it! ‘Stormzy‘ – ‘Vossi Bop‘? 00:13 seconds until the chorus. Ed Sheeran and Khalid – ‘Beautiful People‘ 00:36 seconds until the bridge. Additionally, ‘Someone You Loved‘ – ‘Lewis Capaldi‘ 00:24 seconds until the bridge. You get the idea. Then you have the expectations like ‘Take That‘ and ‘Greatest Day‘. Where if you work out the structure of that song, let me know… What is the bridge? What lyrics are the chorus? Where is the verse? I don’t know. But it works and it sickens me, Mr Barlow, sickens me (sickens me in distant echo).

Again, bringing it back to Maggie Cassidy. If you asked me what it is that Maggie Cassidy offers to an audience of their listeners? My answer would be ‘What don’t they offer?’. I haven’t been able to see them live, but I have heard that they give their absolute all. They know how to do a live show, how to do work with structure, and they know how to do a hit. As an example of them knowing how to do a hit. Maggie Cassidy have accumulated 19,556 streams for ‘Guide Me‘ on Spotify so far. Following this, they released ‘Leaking Love‘ which has reached 65,732 so far.

This next track is going to shoot for the moon. With the right coverage, trust me, you’ll see people talking about Maggie Cassidy. And never forget, you heard it here first… Obviously!

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