aaamusic | On 30, Aug 2011

After nearly fifty years, only the titanic intro to We Will Rock You can claim to be a more iconic drum-line than that of Be My Baby, give an Inuit tribesman with no experience of any sort of pop culture a rock and a stick and sooner or later he will be tapping out the rhythm that made Brian Wilson swerve off the road in his car. Continuing this lineage are Dublin indie-poppers Squarehead, who perhaps have shot themselves in the foot by forcing comparisons with what many have called the greatest pop song of the twentieth century but Fake Blood is a perfectly charming slice of slightly distorted melodious guitar pop which edges on just the right side of effortless, in the sense that one gets the feeling the creators gave the hintest of shits about how good the song was before recording, which is always a good thing. Honestly though, it’s not much to write home about, it seems strangely subdued for most part, only really coming alive with the chorus melody, and singer Roy’s undying desire to be Joey Ramone grates on the third or fourth listen. Still, if todays 90’s revival is anything to go by, this will probably not set the world on fire but mean a hell of a lot to a select group of people. And one gets the feeling Squarehead wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Author: Will Howard