Today's featured shit

More of the same, now on a full-length, luckily for us. The Jezabels continue to brood, and have moved from the inner city of Kate Bush to the suburbs of Siouxsie Sioux. That’s enough for that analogy.
The title track leads off. The Jezabels are a little noisier than they used to be, but it works for them. It’s nice to hear the band grow up from record to record. And in what perhaps is their greatest effort to date, “Long Highway” has everything you could want. That said, the songs seem to continue to get longer and longer. It might be time to rein it in a little bit, although the increased noise does grant them more affordance when it comes to track length.
“Rosebud” could have made it into a John Hughes movie 25 years ago. The backing vocals remind me of Gloria Loring, of all people. I also like “Horsehead” and “Deep Wide Ocean,” which reminds me of Alison Moyet and Michelle Shocked.
The last track is “Catch Me.” It’s also pretty in an ’80s way. Very enjoyable stuff, and in some ways I feel proud for watching the band improve year after year.

I reviewed their “The Man Is Dead” EP, and now I get to review this EP. The sound has definitely matured in 18 months. The lead singer sounds more like Karen O, but the music still has a more Kate Bush feel. The mixing is a lot better as well.
The title track is first, and the five-plus minutes zoom right by. Most of the songs on this EP are about a minute longer, for that matter, than on “The Man Is Dead.”
“Mace Spray” is mixed really well, and the backing vocals are at the perfect level. The Kate Bush style is most prevalent here. It’s a winner. “Sahara Mahala” has nothing to do with Las Vegas, but that’s OK. This one incorporates the piano that was prevalent on some of their other efforts. The louder drums almost make this a rock song, yet still good in its own way.
“A Little Piece” is the weakest song but still good. This band has really turned it around. The drums remind me of Smashing Pumpkins. Really, there is a lot of mid-’90s inspiration on this one. “She’s So Hard” is the last track, and “so” is capitalized because it’s an adverb. The song is fine, even if it’s a little slow. I bet Rihanna could cover this and sell 3 million downloads.