Review Summary: If vocals could kill
“You can’t rely on the common man”
The Jezabels are a four piece Sydney based band that are out to show that their whimsical style of penetrating lyrical depth, and gorgeous instrumentation is going to be the talking point for the Australian music scene for some years to come. In
Dark Storm, the final in the trilogy of EP’s being released last year, The Jezabels hit their straps creating some of the most intoxicating and omnipresent sounds to reach your earlobes for some time.
The vocals of Hayley Mary would be the most potent, yet delightful poison that the Jezabels posses. Her sweet, yet hauntingly beautiful voice swells around you like a hurricane before gently placing you back down. This is none more obvious than in the EP’s single, ‘Mace Spray’ which builds up slowly from a gentle guitar waddle, to a full blown procession with some amazing falsetto vocals from Mary, with subtle yet will found harmonies from other band members.
Lyrically “Mace Spray” shows the bands depth in more than just their instrumentation;
“And so the shattering shards of glass fell,
And glistened this way and that,
But she would say I won't find my way through the plaster;
I'm an empty hourglass in the sand”
While ‘Mace Spray’ may be the single of this EP, ‘Sahara Mahala’ is really the centre point and focus. It is a has a much quicker pace than the rest of the EP, and every band member shines through. ‘Sahara Mahala’ is filled with bombastic piano playing quite an aggressive drum beat and the now token reverb guitar solo. Yet all these large and abundant sounds found throughout the whole EP seem to be made still and delicate as the voice of Hayley Mary seems to soothe everything down to a modest level. The Jezabels seem to be able to find that perfect mix of rock and dulcet indie offerings to make a ridiculously good EP that shouts the band’s name out for a record label to pick them up.
The amusing, yet short ride that The Jezabels will not grow off or become boring since the mix of dynamics between instrumentation and vocals swell around for some time charging the emotive counter with a large sum of joy and relaxation.
"All that really matters is love,
But if it's all that you really care about, then tough."
