Album Review: Big Milk

Big Milk is the debut album from Nelson’s Shedheads. The trio formed in 2022 at Nelson College, and have been starting to make waves, with support slots for the likes of Tiki Taane, and Drax Project.

First up is Let Me Know. This track has a distinctly hard edge, but not in an aggressive way… more like a dog that bares its teeth to let you know that it could casually rip your larynx out, if it felt so inclined, before rolling lazily over to carry on laying in the sun. So Much More sets a fat as fark auto-wahed bassline to a big, hairy funk beat, and a jaunty guitar line. The chorus loses none of that super happy charm, creating a dance anthem to beat for the 2020s. Prepare to get down with your bad self, cutting shapes with reckless abandon. However, it wouldn’t be Shedheads if they didn’t flip the script at some point, becoming decidedly epic-feeling before bouncing back to Partyland. The breakdown in the final 30-odd seconds is definitely all party.

There’s a wickedly Britpop-ish sound to Electric Baby, pure Pop-Rock class. Big snarly, jangly guitars, a beat designed to make you shake that thing whether you want to or not, bassline walking funkily down to the liquor store and back, and a hellova hookova chorus. A soaring guitar solo over the second half of the song, before everything gets frantic as Electric Baby draws to a close. I reckon that there’s something unmistakably “Kiwi” about Loathing, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Maybe it’s the way it starts off all Evermore-y, and then blasts straight through Th’ Dudes territory, eventually becoming just undeniably Shedheads.

Throw Your Lighters Away has a very wah-wah guitar funk intro, before massive harmony vocals steal the show. I hope Shedheads won’t mind too much the comparison here when I say this track is very R.H.C.P., right down to the trumpet playing bassist… except that the Chilis haven’t written anything this good in nigh on 30 years. They’ve “got that funky rhythm to wash away all your pain”, and I love the way each song is turning out to be uniquely different to every other one on the album. That takes some skill, to write like that, and still sound like yourselves.

A fuzzy bass roar melts into a big chunky riff on the title track, soon underscored by a driving beat and overlaid by some spacious guitar. These chaps aren’t about short songs, this one clocks in at just shy of 6 minutes, they certainly have a lot to say. The maturity of the songwriting belies their youthful, laddish appearance, it’s impressive stuff. Musically, I’m reminded of Muse here… that’s always a good thing, I do love me some Muse. So far, this album is utterly defying my expectations, I expected some exuberant party hits, not this sort of massive strength, depth, and power. The song titles seem to lend themselves to fun and humour, not this “force to be reckoned with” type of carry on. I’m picking this would be an excellent band to experience live. I’m quite blown away, to be honest, and I’m only just over halfway through.

Poker is one of the shortest tracks on the album at just 3 and a half minutes. A lovely acoustic guitar intro, but don’t be fooled, it rapidly goes full guttersnipe, before settling down somewhere in between… no, wait, it’s off again into nasty snotty territory. Nothing sloppy here though, it’s as tight as you like, like if Muse had followed a Punk path, instead. FBB has a moody intro into an almost kitschy, spy-movie feel, which transitions into another guitar-driven Pop-Rocker. A nifty marrying of a smoky, mysterious mood with a glowsticks-at-a-festival chorus. Shedheads are some clever, clever songwriters.

Some precisely plucked harmonics are joined by a high-energy guitar riff, and Actium then explodes into a ballsy stomp-rocker, a right royal barnstormer. The bass is grimy and belligerent, the drums thunderous, the guitar full of pith and vinegar. Then, at the two minute mark, a contrasting mood of peace and beauty, only to have all guns blazing once again after a scant few seconds. Hugely strong vocals, this lad has got some pipes, I tell ya. I love the juxtaposition of light and dark in the contrasting moods of this song, well played, you chaps, well played. The energy drops right down at around the 5 minute point, becoming altogether more thoughtful, before turning back to have another go at your jugular. Super tasty guitar solo, with a to-die-for tone. At almost 7 minutes, it’s quite an epic number, and not a single second too long. A superb journey.

Lastly, #1 comes in with a tasty, tapped guitar line, soon paired with a mournful vocal line, the whole mood shifting at around the 1 minute 30 mark, before slipping back into the first groove, with a sparse bassline and quiet percussion. Once it gets around two thirds of the way through, it seems to start building into something much bigger, before dropping back yet again. A mellow album closer, dripping with skill and confidence.

With the eclectic, mood swinging, twisty-turny nature of their songs… they’re a band that’s just that bit different to anything else I’ve ever heard. Or rather, bits of them sound like stuff I’ve heard before… but I’ve never heard anyone bring all of those vastly different bits together in one place. This band is going to go places, you just mark my words, you’re going to see big things from them. Awesome. Just frickin awesome.