Bet she’s got a cat! I assume they have cats in Australia and “Mood Ring” by Melbourne’s very own Holly Hebe sounds like an album that has a cat associated with it in much they way that witchcraft and cats were related back in the days before anyone could even spell feminism. Or democracy, for that matter.
Anyway, onwards and upwards to the music. The plastic pop princess sound so beloved of spell casters in our Internet times is present and correct on this EP and, even on close inspection, Holly Hebe sounds just like she and many others like her should. Yet, with that said, only a fool would fail to notice that there is rather more than low calorie sugar substitute and a fashionable shade of lipstick to her and there were times – many times, actually – whilst listening to these seven songs when I began to wonder if I was instead listening to the soundtrack to some forgotten John Hughes movie. Don’t worry if you don’t know who John Hughes is as it probably isn’t trendy to remember the heyday of the master of the teen movie but Holly Hebe’s eloquent mix of melody and not so innocent contemplation would be a more than adequate companion to his visuals.
Besides causing me to wonder if being young isn’t as much fun as it used to be, “Mood Ring” provides seven good reasons to make you believe that Holly Hebe is a literate, if sentimental, voice of today. That, and a probable cat owner.