The Jezabels - Dark Storm

Their third in a series of three EP’s, Dark Storm by Sydney’s The Jezabels is an interesting finish to the trifecta as Max Easton writes.

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Flicking through my CD collection out of curiosity, I came to realise that I have scarce few female voices amongst my throngs of music. Aside from the odd folk singer-songwriter with a pretty voice, I’ve somehow amassed a distinctly sexist collection of albums; which is strange, since it took all of half a verse for me to fall in love with the breathy voice of Hayley Mary of the The Jezabels.

In fact, The Jezabels are pretty much all about Hayley Mary’s vocal. In her yelps, moans and leaping choruses, they have a truly unique and interesting voice to front it all. The rest? Think muted guitars, rolling bass heavy beats, sustained synth notes and the deep warmth of a generously applied reverb knob. These arrangements all align to create deep, cave-like atmospheres that work gorgeously in tandem with the heart-felt and dramatic lyrics that scream across the top of it. Mary delivers strange meanderings like “I know your divide between bringing in the light, playing in the height of the sky with hope…and playing in the pools where the broken lines of your love meet” with the same ferocity and intent as “I will go out, steal the piñata if I wanna.” Each throwaway line is taken just as seriously as the eloquently worded philosophies, which, depending on your train of thought, could really go either way.

On Dark Storm, The Jezabels round out a triplet of EP’s to make up what is essentially a debut album. In the same vein of the polarised reception the last two received - from fanatic praise to a down-right slamming – Dark Storm will find itself a mixed assessment. There are some genuinely pretty and haunting moments on this EP, but there are also some which strive to be as such and come across as forced and tacky. The Jezabels aren’t a bad band, but it does feel as though there’s something not quite right with their formula. Maybe it sounds like it takes itself too seriously at times, but I certainly wouldn’t shirk away from hearing this EP again outside of a review context…and that pretty well makes it a success in my eyes.