Demos

Second Head - Trees

Owain Paciuszko 09/01/2011

Rating: 3/5

Sophomore EP from London duo (with occasional contributors) Second Head begins with the atmospheric and glum sounds of Come Here, Baby, all squeaky cassette murmurings and gloomy guitar burbles building towards a dull sneer of lyrics that act as a prologue for Cherry Princess, an arch, preening punk-pop song straddling dreamy, doe-eyed bubblegum lyrics, angular guitar riffage and sleazy Raveonettes-like grumblings.

Snake Queen has its vocals delivered down its nose over an occasionally raucous barrage of dissonant guitar rumblings, turning into a fun-size miniature metal finale. Being Lesley Kenton is the most disposable track on a record that seems to revel in its flippancy, each song a tiny, seemingly off-the-cuff chunk of carefree anti-pop. Closing track TREEZ begins as a gruff, posturing indie sneer, vocals spiteful and arrogant (to a pleasing effect) before climaxing as an echo of the opening track with scuffling sound samples and reverberating, despairing hollers.

This second EP doesn't quite capture the snarky charms of their earlier release, this record is a bit more glib and teeters on pretension, but it never outstays its welcome and shoots off in enough tangents to keep your ears pointed in its direction.