The Jezabels - Synthia

Indie Rock has been quickly becoming the norm over the past few years. Acts like Cage The Elephant and Imagine Dragons have quickly taken over modern rock and the genre continues to grow. There are some hidden gems within the vast sea of indie rockers out there. Australian indie rock outfit The Jezabels have released their third record entitled Synthia and it is laced with heavy electronics and slow moving jams.

There’s a lot of atmosphere and building on this record. ‘Come Alive’ is probably the biggest sounding song on the album, being to most true-to-rock song on it. It’s a bit disjointed with its layers of guitar and synths, the synths being very dark and brooding, almost industrial. ‘Pleasure Drive’ is another industrial-ish track, sounding like something that Trent Reznor would conjure up. The closure track ‘Stamina’ is a long build up full of huge percussion and distorted guitars. It builds up with vocalist Hayley Mary’s cries getting more and more passionate as the instrumental widens behind her. The intro track builds up a bit more quickly than the rest of the album does, ‘Stand and Deliver’ opening with a dinky synth and percussion line that becomes a driven indie jam. The album may be more electronic indie than indie rock, but there are still the bangers in the mix. ‘Come Alive’, and ‘If Ya Want Me’ are big rock tracks that would get crowds headbanging and jumping.

The lyrics on the album are hit-or-miss. There are some beautiful written pieces like ‘If Ya Want Me’ and ‘A Message From My Mothers Passed’, the latter of which has a very ethereal meaning. ‘Unnatural’ makes a powerful statement with its lyrics, as well as having a pretty interesting synth line throughout. There are some very sensually written songs too, like ‘Smile’, which is all about the intimacy of love. Other tracks, however, feel like an afterthought. ‘Stand and Deliver’ uses modern lingo that feels a bit too much for it, especially since the whole “daddy” thing doesn’t play itself well into the rest of the album. ‘My Love Is My Disease’ is an okay track, a bit too blunt, though; as is ‘Pleasure Drive’. ‘Flowers In The Attic’ is best left unspoken of.

The Jezabels brought a good album to the table this year with Synthia. It blends rock and electronic well with a modern pop sound blended into it. Lyrically, it’s not a masterpiece and it could use a little more variety. Not a bad album, but no masterpiece all the same.

Favorite Tracks: Come Alive, If Ya Want Me

Least Favorite Tracks: Flowers In The Attic, Pleasure Drive, A Message From My Mothers Passed

Rating: 7/10