The Jezabels are back with a brand new album, Synthia. So often bands struggle to maintain the quality of their music over an extended period of time, but there are no such worries with this stellar Australian act. In fact, this third album may just be their best yet.
Ordinarily when I listen to an album I might review I find myself scribbling notes as I listen. However, I was too entranced by the music the first go round to be pulled out of it with observations. I just wanted to let it wash over me.
There’s something so cathartic about listening to songs like the opening track “Stand and Deliver” and the breathtaking “Smile” that build so beautifully to searing crescendos. The Jezabels know how to do epic more convincingly than most acts on the scene.
They’re also a band that knows how to use light and shade so well. I love that driving intensity they can deliver in a song like “My Love is My Disease,” and then how they can leave you hanging on ever moment in quieter periods, like the first half of “Smile.”
“A Message From My Mothers Passed” is one of those songs so beautiful that it stopped me in my tracks. I was similarly enthralled by the exquisite “Flowers in the Attic.” “Stamina,” a song so full of wisdom, ends the album perfectly.
Synthia is likely to be everything fans hope it will be. The darkness and drama of the songs The Jezabels create is like nothing else around. And Hayley Mary’s vocals that seem to cut through so effortlessly are some of the best in the business. This album is sure to cement The Jezabels reputation as one of the best Australian acts making music today.
Synthia hits stores on 12 February.