Recent years have seen a huge revival for the big female voice, with Polly Harvey, Florence Welch and Anna Calvi reviving the lost art of the slightly mad rock lady. We should now add to that list one Hayley Mary, frontwoman of The Jezabels, whose mesmerising holler recalls Siouxsie Sioux at the peak of her powers.
Hopping across genres, the opening title track travels between gothic operatics and the electronic pulse of Muse, a heady brew that’s topped off by Mary’s soaring vocals.
What follows is no less impressive – Endless Summer is haunting pop, Long Highway a dark majestic ballad that channels Stevie Nicks, Try Colour a dancefloor stomper to rival The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The rest of the album is equally interesting musically, but lacks quality songs – guitarist Sam Lockwood, keyboardist Heather Shannon and drummer Nik Kaloper kick up an intense wall of noise but sometimes their ambition and Mary’s dramatics make them sound a little too much like T’Pau pretending to be indie.
That scary thought aside a powerful debut with huge promise.
