The devil you don't

Devilish Mary & The Holy Rollers - Debut Album

It's Friday and our thoughts naturally turn to entertainment as the weekend closes in. Music is an important part of the way we entertain ourselves and fortunately for us, the debut album of Lyttleton's own Devilish Mary & The Holy Rollers recently crossed our collective desks and we've thrown it on our electronic turntable as the sun shines and the clock ticks down to knock off. Boy are we glad we did.

We love strings and this album had us with the opening bars of Oh Darling, the first track. And then right on the heels of those strings, Devilish Mary started singing and they were going to have to work very hard to lose us after that.

We're told that Devilish Mary And The Holy Rollers started out trying to be a Western swing band. If you're familiar with that genre you'll certainly recognise that influence on their sound but there is a whole let else going on here besides. There's a bit of gypsy swing, a touch of jazz, a splash of country, which is no surprise given their provenance, and a little dash of exotica to keep you on your toes. And if you want to stay on your toes there's plenty here to keep you on the floor, in whatever style you dance.

Mary, or Anita Clark to call her by her real name, can really sing and covers the full range from fiery torch to wistful love songs across the 12 songs on this album. She is ably assisted by the Holy Rollers, one of whom generally sings with a warm croon but who can also deliver some serious growl when required. And though it would be hard to find a track we don't like, the tracks that are most assisting us in our Friday travails are the opener, Oh Darling along with Knife, Istanbul Not Constantinople, Pretty Girls and What Lies Beneath, one of our all time favourites, rendered beautifully here with some sultry brass accompaniment.

And so keen are we on Devilish Mary and her gang that we are now selling their album through our Emporium. Check it out and listen well.