Betsy and the Reckless: Salty (digital outlets)

They may not live up the rock'n'roll/rockabilly suggestion of their name but Taranaki's Betsy Knox and her band do a very appealing line in originals on this debut album which draws on soul, nightclub cabaret, not too much default reggae and a little jazzy swing.

Released late last year and therefore lost in that “best of the year” mopping up period, Salty is damn fine calling card from a highly accomplished band which you'd book in a heartbeat because they cover so many bases but always sound like themselves, whether it be on smoky soulful ballads (Blank Phone which is a little Goldenhorse), intense melodrama (You're a Vibe, perhaps not their strongest song however), slightly unusual pop (Ghost), that flicker of reggae (the sensual Liar's Debt) and the immediately appealing cabaret-like opener My Baby Don't Know.

Salty is a short album – seven songs in 23 minutes – but that makes an immediate hit on repeat-play.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here.