Jackie Marshall - Ladies' Luck

7 July 2010 by Richard Wilson

Truly the antithesis of seemingly every female vocalist out there milking the affected "cute voice" fad, one thing is consistent with Marshall's voice, and that is she has a hell of a set of lungs. Bouncing seamlessly from angelic to ballsy to spoken word -- sometimes in a single breath -- part of Marshall's charm stems from her idiosyncratic vocals.  In short, Jackie Marshall is Regina Spektor at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey.

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Anyone that has seen Marshall knows the glowing humour she approaches life with, and it is abundantly apparent in the honest songwriting on "Ladies' Luck". Lines like "Now I don't wanna be that girl keepin' cats for company / So I'm gonna get a dog" from Just Like Deedee's Wife flow naturally and lend themselves perfectly to Marshall's musical personality.

Seven Licks Left has been kicked around on stage by Marshall for several years now; to finally hear it fleshed out with the full studio treatment is to these ears the highlight of the album. The immediately infectious, rollicking melody is forefront to this lament-free song about serving time, packing a veritable rock opera into its four-and-a-half minutes.

At its core, "Ladies' Luck" is a something-tinged rock album. That something changes from track to track; sometimes it's pop, as with the bouncy title track Ladies Luck, sometimes country as on Excuse Me Mister (That's My Heart), sometimes southern rock (Still Fucking Up), or the straight crunchy rock of Q Song Awards nominated The Ugly Man, but it's never too much of anything; the album is held together by Marshall's vocals and a tight roster of musicians that bring a wealth of musicality to "Ladies Luck".

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