Perfume Drip
Pissing perfume since The Jezabels hiatus, who needs albums with EP's like these? On the regular too. Following last year's 'The Piss, The Perfume' extended play, Hayley Mary is already back this Summer with 'The Drip' for her musical flow that has no signs of ebbing. Even if her amazing Aussie band haven't cut a disc since 2017 (the sublime synth soaring 'Synthia'). She's riding solo like fellow countrywoman Julia Stone's 'Sixty Summers', quite possibly the album of the year. Now who could need or want for more right now coming out of the pandemic? Especially as bandmate Heather Shannon is also back with her own piano record, 'Midnight Sun' due to set in July. You can hear some 'Fragments' of this with its lead single out now. Recorded amongst the stirring peace of an Icelandic retreat. We have no doubt it will be a treat. Just like the 'Perfume' spray Hayley gave us last year that came up smelling like roses. The self-titled single. The groundbreaking 'Like A Woman Should'. The stripped down, black and white, 'Ordinary Me'. 'Holly' and 'The Brat'. That had five tracks, but now 'The Drip' drop has an extended seven seals. Releasing an EP like the Counting Crows 'Butter Miracle Suite One' on the same day South Korean pop stars BTS released a similar dairy product single spread. The 'Prisoner' on 'The Brink' is back with her best work yet. Taking the crown and sitting on a gold throne like the queen she is. All hail Mary!
"Your attention for the moment/Your attention for the moment", Hayley demands on the opening title track that rocks out like the throwback it sounds like. Even the great St. Vincent has competition with this one. Hayley's home! "It was a dirty grey day, there was a constant drizzle/As we drank Lucozade, though it was not artisanal/Just a fizzling of orange, the drip inside of me/My friend was walking round in bare feet/Cos he’s started to use/He says there’s nothing more tragic/Than a dead person’s shoes/Now he’s wearing the crown in his own/Cashmere shanti town/Oh, you always were the clown." If this commercial co-sign that Lucozade would love to drink from for years, didn't confirm it, the spaceship signature, out of this world sound of this 'Sullen Kink' does. Showing and proving that this 'Drip' pisses all over the perfect 'Perfume'. Forget how all this smells, Mary has never sounded quite as secure as this. Now 'Would You Throw A Diamond?' Because track after track cuts through your speaker as she sings, "You spent your shattered mind at sea/You’re fighting all the lies and critters/Hidden in the honesty/You’re burning up the room/And the stars come rolling in/They’re collection the memories/That I have of you and me/I’m thinking it ain’t that hard/To f#####’ kiss you in the rain/I’ll f###### kiss you in the rain/I’m thinking it ain’t that hard/You’re like a diamond in the dirt", the punk who covered the "kiss (f###) you hard in the pouring rain", 'Born To Die' Lana Del Rey's 'Chemtrials Over The Country Club' self-titled song for the legendary Aussie 'Like A Version' for the radio record single sings. Also asking, "would you throw a lifetime away"? Not if its epic like this for this woman who doesn't let up over guitars on 'A Boy Called Rock n Roll'. Let the good times do the same.
"Don't want to live a life alone without you boy" she yearns as out headphones will do the same as we sing in unison for the one we want like the next day we hope we see...together. "Heavy hearts" will be uplifted with this one that will sing and ring out from the fields of the next festival this powerful performer takes to the stage as our world starts to open up again in concert. This sound of the summer before an 'Unholy Winter' offers us more faith in hope before the cold coming. "What's love under the sun" she asks on an epic, euphoric track that soars like her Sydney group at the Opera House as the riffs reach realms. "Letting the good times roll" on 'Young & Stupid', Mary mothers us, "when you're young and stupid/when you're young and you think you've got time to spend/you know that's just a lie they tell." Amen. Heed this caution like there's no tomorrow. Pick up the phone. Love and live your life. Reach out to the one who gave it you first. And make it right. Because "you wouldn't think it was the last time." Then on the closing 'Chain' Mary gives us an end that evokes even more energy to come for someone who could drop an EP every year at this rate (here's hoping). Her band may be on hiatus, but she ain't stopping. "I got time, I got time, I got fevers/That could light up the night/Like the fires that burned through the season," she sings on another stellar single that lights up the world like its 4K YouTube video in all its glory. A world in need of waking up in high definition. In another tired year refreshing this season like the freshly cut grass of the maze garden sculptures playing polo. The EP of the year is anything but a drip, or even a steady Spotify stream. Running like water, this Jezabel can't be stopped. Say her name, because Hayley Mary down the river is setting sail on her own ship. And nothings going to take the wind out these harbour sails...or piss on this parade. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Sullen Kink', 'Would You Throw Away A Diamond', 'Young & Stupid'.
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