Album review: Queen of Boomtown by Gretta Ziller

Victorian singer-songwriter Gretta Ziller released her first EP, Hell's Half Acre, in late 2014. There was great talent, and great promise, in it - and, consequently, her fans (including me) have had an impatient wait for her first album, Queen of Boomtown. The wait has been worth it, not that there was much doubt: the talent and promise of Hell's Half Acre were not of the fleeting kind.

On Queen of Boomtown Ziller has resisted making another version of Hell's Half Acre. The songs on both are distinctively hers, but the album is a progression. These songs are the work of someone with more life behind her - more wistfulness, by the sound of it, and perhaps some cynicism that gives her voice even more of a knowing tone than it had before. And what a voice it is: Ziller has long sounded like she could emit the battle cry of an outlaw queen and follow it with a torch song, and that mix of mellow tone and strident edge is even better balanced on this album.

There is some melancholy on this album, most notably in 'This is Gonna Hurt' and 'Alright with Me', but that is not the predominant tone, for even 'Go On', which could be a song about a broken heart, is more about independence and self-determination. The lyrics of the title track could suggest hard times but no one could really call herself a queen if she wasn't feeling something close to assured about what she's doing. And Ziller does sound assured throughout this album - as well she should. These songs are great stories and musically wonderful, and at the centre of it all is Ziller's majestic voice and her commanding presence, which is clear in each note. This may be a debut album but Ziller doesn't sound like a beginner. If this were a third or sixth album she could be proud of it - for a debut, well, let's just say it sounds a lot like a queen claiming her throne.

Queen of Boomtown is out now from Social Family Records.
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