Melbourne’s sky is a vibrant, velvety blue, not unlike the ceiling of The Forum Theatre’s atrium. Gathering on this warm Thursday night, Melbourne’s music lovers prepare to feast upon the splendid sonic gifts of Sydney quartet, The Jezabels.
Alpine treats an already sizeable audience to some delicious indie-pop. With delicate, ethereal vocals, combined with a robust, dynamic upbeat pop song structuring, Alpine is Mazzy Star meets Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Vocalists Phoebe and Lou both radiate a Karen O style exuberance that defies their fragile tones. Fuelled by driving basslines, throughout their set, Alpine gains more and more momentum, ultimately verifying the recent hype surrounding them and proving they are becoming an unstoppable upward force.
Hey Rosetta! literally explode onto stage. The vague figures fumbling around on stage were assumed to still be the crew setting up the stage. However, with a sudden burst of a full 6-piece band and a barrage of bright white lights, Hey Rosetta! command attention in a way that cannot be ignored. They sound like a mix between indie freak-folk and an orchestral apocalyptic mayhem. From swapping instruments mid-song to engaging the crowd with furiously fast handclapping, the Canadian band’s exciting music and stage antics are a delight to observe.
Hidden behind a light fabric screen, the colossal silhouettes of The Jezabels cast imposing shadows across the crowd. Amplified to inconceivable heights, both the music and artists envelop and conquer the obedient crowd.
Each band member blends into the next; an abstract mix of shadows and light, creating a curious blur. Clad in a shirt with broken batwings, vocalist Hayley Mary exudes a supernatural quality. With the fringes swinging from her arms like wings, it’s hard to believe that this graceful figure could posses such a shattering voice. From the delicate sighs of an angel to the fierce roar of a demon with such smoothness that the transition is never felt, she possesses an almost crushing power in her voice. Soundtracked by the heavy growl of opening track and title song of their new album, Prisoner, her vocals seems to act as a conduit of emotion, simultaneously extracting, vocalising and relieving the pains of the crowd.
The curtain drops and the band commences the first single from their debut album, Endless Summer. An elegant story of longing and loss, Hayley Mary’s lyrics bleed classic romantic imagery. The song opens with the word “and”, a conjunction intended to link two things, a perfect example of her seemingly effortless ability to soak her words in mystery.
Despite the dark lyrics and overall dark tone of the music, the crowd feels no ambiguity about their shameless grooving across the dancefloor. They bop in unison, yet out of time to “City Girl”, and echo Hayley Mary during “Easy To Love”.
The Jezabels pulse through a number of tracks from their debut album, including “Trycolour” and the epic “Long Highway”, as well as fan-favourites from their three EPs, such as “Mace Spray”, “Sahara Mahara” and “She’s So Hard”. Each track emanates a palpitating power and confirms without doubt that this is one of the finest Australian releases in recent years.
The band has a remarkable ability to command the attention of the entire audience. It would be perfectly valid to question if during Mary’s wild arm flailing, she is sprinkling the crowd with some kind of indoctrination agent. Of course, an even more valid explanation is that the overwhelmingly skilful musicianship and the authoritative power of Mary’s stage adventure are as addictive as that mid-morning coffee.
The Jezabels can draw a crowd more diverse than most artists. There’s no shortage of innercity twenty-somethings, dressed to hipster perfection from floral vintage dresses to black rimmed glasses, brogues and skinny jeans. There’s also no lack of the older music fans, many of whom have perhaps long dismissed their passion for live music in favour of retaining the ability to hear, but who could not resist the allure of this fantastic band.
If a cheetah could play drums, Nik Kaloper could play drums faster. Although the pace of most songs by The Jezabels do not warrant the performing of percussion at light-speed, the drumsticks literally become an inscrutable blur during the faster tempo tracks. It’s as if the heads of his enemies lie on that hi-hat and snare, and no amount of violent pounding can alleviate his anger. It’s a bizarrely compelling visual delight.
Pianist Heather Shannon’s heavenly backing vocals are unfortunately lost amongst the turbulent onslaught of the vociferous audience, the overall rumbling of the instrumentation, as well as Mary’s immense voice. The few instances where her delicate tones shine through the collective organised chaos, everything seems to come together in perfect cohesion.
Powerhouse guitarist, Samuel Lockwood, captains the enormous vessel that is The Jezabels. His propelling rhythm guitar seems to navigate their onstage journey. The elegant chord progressions (riffs are sparse), combined with Shannon’s haunting piano, is gravely potent in its raw form.
When the opening bars of “Hurt Me are heard” the crowd erupts into a boiling crucible of energy. The collective chorus of the audience seem loud enough to shatter the roof off The Forum. Mary offers herself to the audience with little restraint. She seems to move her whole body across the crowd without even leaving the stage, while her soaring voice aptly exclaims “cut me, serve me ‘round the table”. The crowd responds enthusiastically. Her enigmatic theatrics are reminiscent of a gothic melodrama. The intensity is almost overwhelming.
Closing with the popular, “Disco Biscuit Love”, The Jezabels’ music could accompany both the crash and burn and the subsequent rise from the ashes. A chameleon quality, with lyrics that paint landscapes of both sinister expeditions and optimistic longing, complemented by a looming ghostly quality, the sheer power of the composition is enough to encourage even the most stubborn of martyrs. Overflowing with international appeal, The Jezabels will be the next band to draw worldwide musical attention back to Australia… and rightly so!
– Lara Moates
