Deap Vally’s debut album, Sistrionix was a breath of fresh air for the heavy blues rock end of the musical spectrum when it was released in 2013. Feminist anthems, like “Gonna Make My Own Money” and “Creeplife” blasted out like artillery salvos and rightfully grabbed plenty of people’s attention. Since then, however, Lindsay Troy and Julie Edwards have never really lived up their initial promise.
A second album just revisited old ground and a collaboration with the Flaming Lips didn’t give the impression that they were anymore than hired hands. Their new long-player, Marriage is something else though. The swagger is back, the volume is on full-whack and they’ve broken free of the obvious creative constraints of only employing two instruments by bringing on board some of the cream of the musical sisterhood, with the likes of Peaches, KT Tunstall, Jennie Vee of the Eagles of Death Metal and Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint all contributing good things.
Opening track, “Perfunction” hits the ground running, brimming over with attitude and sounding like one of the Runaways’ better tunes. “Billions” is like fine glam rock on steroids, while “Better Run” has them howling for vengeance from some bloke who has been daft enough to cross them. In fact, self-confidence is something Lindsay and Julie have got in spades throughout. “When they come around, you can tell them who I am” they howl on “I’m the Master” and “Nothing’s gonna take me down” on the hip-shaking “Phoenix”, while on “High Horse” they make it clear that “I could be fucking anything I want”.
This isn’t to say that Marriage is a one-speed piece at all. “Give Me a Sign” and final track, “Look Away” mellow things out somewhat. But make no mistake, this is an album that will more than raise Deap Vally’s profile again in all the right ways.
