EP REVIEW: LEGS ELECTRIC – Maximum Rock n’ Roll

Shane | 5 March 2015 | Reply

EP REVIEW: LEGS ELECTRIC – Maximum Rock n’ Roll
Vintage Records
17 May, 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7/10

As an opening salvo in their global campaign to save rock n’ roll, Legs Electric’s debut EP does a solid job of introducing the female four-piece and their classic-influenced rock sound.

The three musicians – drummer Kylie Soanes, her sister bass player Abby, and guitarist Laura McCormack – have all played together for several years in another all-girl Perth rock band, The Sure Fire Midnights, and they lock into a groove effortlessly as befitting their long history together.

Where The Sure Fires referenced the boogier side of hard rock, Legs target the Thin Lizzy/Led Zeppelin end of the spectrum to great effect.

Opener Illicit Love sounds a little restrained at first, their live energy not translating to tape completely, whereas Trigger shows exemplary guitar work by McCormack and Temporary Road is the sound of a band on fire. Singer Ama Quinsee channels Robert Plant on this Zeppelinesque rocker, with the whole band delivering an excellent, groove-laden performance.

Black Magic continues the high standard with the Soanes sisters positively nailing their groove while McCormack and Quinsee wail over the top.

She’s Like A Saint closes the five-tracker, another track which has its moments – notable the elder Soanes’ drum breakdown mid-song, and the second half’s energy and groove.

It’s a tough music industry at the moment and a band needs to use every USP they have to get noticed, so packaging this release in a plain white sleeve with only black and red lettering on it may well have appealed in a conversation about making it ‘about the music, not the fact that we’re girls’, but it ironically does them a disservice. There’s little reason to pick such a drab cover off the shelf and give it a chance – which is a shame when Legs Electric have so obviously got the good stuff where it counts, so a striking non-band image would have been a far better choice.

Rest assured that the contents rock, and with a new single about to drop, Legs Electric are worth your time.

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