Single review: Head to Head

Auckland band Malchicks were ahead of their time in the early 1990’s, riding the wave of sonic charged guitar driven rock and roll genre which would eventually be called ‘shoegaze’. Now around 30 years later, a collection of all of their recorded works called Everything is set to be released.

The band has decided to release Head to Head as a lead up to the album, to remind old fans of their abilities and sound, and to potentially attract new fans who may be keen to have their ears thoroughly cleaned.

The Malchicks pioneered swirling, fuzzed guitar sounds in New Zealand, mining similar territory associated with bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Swervedriver, and Head to Head is an excellent taster for the forthcoming album; it should whet the appetite sufficiently.

Following a conventional westerner pop music structure, in an expected but still in an intriguing way; this is definitely a song which should be played at a reasonable volume and one which should be played on repeat.