Imagine being so laid back that the whole world could be crashing around you and you wouldn’t even mind. The Pinheads’ sophomore album, Is This Real, sounds like exactly that. Oozing reckless good times, the album feels like a bunch of mates inadvertently got wasted on the eve of the apocalypse and figured they might as well the most of it.
The Pinheads hail from the coast of Wollongong, a group of art-loving misfits who describe themselves as “too weird for punk shows, too free-form for garage rock, too genre-defiant for rock & roll”. The band reportedly claims that two of its members have made contact with alien life forms. Listening to the title song of the album, I can believe it.
Is This Real definitly speaks to a dissociative experience of extraterrestrial proportions.
‘Feel it Now’, the second track on the album, epitomises the raucous, surreal energy of the album, like sun-bleached punk with a splash of psychedelia mixed in. The song’s careening, distorted hooks are offset by Jez Player’s languorous vocals, with an effect reminiscent of lo-fi legends like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. Picture running through a sunny meadow, but everything is melting – it’s the kind of feeling Syd Barrett taps into in his solo work; jaunty, and a little unhinged. ‘Innocent Crime’ is a little more laid back track, with tumbling, staggering guitar riffs and smooth, soaring vocals. Overall, the brilliant, buoyant chaos of Is This Real is set to garner the band a slew of new fans.
The Pinheads are having release week parties over the next couple weeks in New South Wales and Melbourne, and if this album (or their gig reviews) are anything to go by, they’re sure to be a good time.
You can have a squizz at their tour dates here, and pre-order their album here.
