Prisoner

After releasing a handful of appetite-whetting EPs, Sydney slow-burners The Jezabels serve up their main course in the form of their debut album Prisoner. Co-produced by Lachlin Mitchell and Peter Katis (the latter has twiddled knobs for the likes of The National, The Swell Season and Interpol), the record is grandiose and, at times, gothic sounding, and bursting at the seams with ambition. ‘Endless Summer’ is a towering alt. ballad that sees singer Hayley Mary channel her inner Cyndi Lauper and is a definite highlight, but ‘Rosebud’ and ‘Deep Wide Ocean’ are almost as stirring. While admittedly at times the melodrama can get a little Twilight in places (‘Long Highway’), for the most part Prisoner is a powerful record.