Album Review: Ruby Boots - Don't Talk About It

Seemingly on the verge of spontaneous combustion, the fuzzed-out guitar feedback of opening track It's So Cruel launches into a cacophony of hits and sets a riotous precedent for the album it leads.

The track drives the album with force and deliberation, pulling on the reins in verses and letting loose in the choruses, the breakdown adding bucketloads of sonic colour. Don't Give A Damn brings it down awhile, showing the dynamic range of Ruby Boots aka Bex Chilcott's acoustic side - reminiscent of Exile On Main St-era Stones - cutting straight to the chase and reaching the chorus in only a handful of lines. From there it just sails skyward.

Garage-rock super-hit Believe In Heaven builds on itself, each new musical idea just a little bit more substantial, a little more meaty, a little more badass. This just continues up and up as instruments join the mix, culminating in an absolutely stellar soundscape of tambourine and overdriven amps awash in glorious reverb.

Overall the album ranges from tender and vulnerable to fierce and unapologetically assertive, deserving of every accolade it is sure to receive. To be listened to often and repeatedly.