Second albums are important. They provide the evidence that the first album was not a fluke and they provide evidence of that artistic development essential for longevity in the music business. “Like The Devil Does” is Miss Quincy’s second album and ably provides the proof that she is here to stay.
Of course it helps that she has surrounded herself with some very capable musicians that understand the wondrous ways of old time style music. With a relaxed demeanour that would do some hard drinking saloon band proud, they evoke days gone by just as easily as Miss Quincy’s words do. However, this is no mere trip down the dusty yellow brick road to see the wizard of Americana. Instead this album is dryly reverential reinvention of what used to be called “telling it like it is”. The raw electric guitar on “Dirty Sunday”, for instance, says as much about desire as the sultry vocals of Miss Quincy. “Dawson City Line” likewise does not disappoint. Tim William’s banjo walks Miss Quincy along a street lined with jingling spurs, card sharks and ladies of ill repute. It’s the gold rush all over again and, as the piano rollicks through “Silent Movie”, you know the train to the future isn’t going to be stopping at your station.
Remarkably understated for an album drawing so heavily on the past, “Like The Devil Does” demonstrates again the poise and confidence of Miss Quincy. Where so many others inspect the past with rose tinted glasses and a fetish for dungarees, she has translated the past elegantly into something relevant to today. A story is a story after all and a story well told, as here, is what we are all looking for.