Album Review: Mojo Juju - Mojo Juju

Best known for her part as founder and lead vocalist of the now defunct The Snake Oil Merchants, Melbourne's Mojo Juju has finally struck out on her own, and what a joy the resultant work is.

The self-titled album takes inspiration from jazz, blues and the Latin American Pachuco culture of the 1930s and '40s. The result is 14 tracks that are sultry, sexy and punchy as all hell. Recurrent themes of drinking, women and crime run right throughout and provide an excitable eclectic stream of vocals. Opener Pony Takes A Powder warms up with a solitary sax and softly brushed drums before her voice starts up, pulls you in and wraps around your ears. She sings, “If it's a car or girl, or money, or a girl and a car with money”, which pretty much sums up the focus of the album. On one end of the scale, love song Frankie is a great show of her honeyed, mellow voice. Then next track I Put A Spell On You picks you up by the throat and shakes you, the gritty version a homage to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins original, punctuated with swearing and screaming that really shakes you out of your skin.

Horse Named Regret and Brother Where Have You Been are addictively catchy with melodies that are really hard to get out of your head. A few softer tracks give some reprieve, from the childhood memories of Train Along The Hawkesbury and Drive On, where a softer side of Mojo Juju makes an appearance. This is a fantastic first solo outing that never gets tired, no matter how many times you listen to it.