Hot Springs are the latest band to launch themselves out of Montreal’s thriving Seattle-in-the-90s music scene with their debut full-length album, Volcano, and it really is a cracking first effort. They are a female-fronted four piece whose sound is full of rock/pop energy, with touches of the a tidied up White Stripes along the way, while the vocals of Giselle Webber lie somewhere between Cerys Matthews and Kings of Leon frontman Calleb Followill. Her voice is as good as that combination sounds and, backed by a solid and interesting rhythm section and aggressive guitar playing, it all makes for a attention-grabbing record.

From the first chords of the opening track Headrush, you know you’re in for an exciting time. It erupts out of the speakers (aptly, on an album called Volcano) before settling down into a funky, danceable number, akin at times to an early Primal Scream. It’s a feeling sustained throughout the album, while at the same time there is plenty variation. Tracks like Fog And The Horn and Annimystique show a more tender side to the band, allowing Giselle’s delicate vocals to really excel.

Everything fits together well on Volcano, and never is their too much or too little going on to please the ear. It’s all too often that you hear bands trying to overdo things, but Hot Springs have found that rocking (yet polished) rawness which, when the standard of song-writing is high enough (as it is here), rarely fails to please.