By Jim Rowland
London based three-piece post-punkers False Heads created quite a stir with the digital release of their debut album ‘It’s All There But You’re Dreaming’ last year, with the band netting one million streams on Spotify and over 500K on Apple Music, and gaining radio support at R1, 6music and Radio X amongst others. Plus, Iggy Pop is a fan, which can’t be a bad thing. This month sees the album re-released on physical formats, which promises to bring the album to an even wider audience.
As the opening cut of ‘Whatever You Please’ eases from the gentle opening few bars to the band kicking in at full power, the first thing that strikes you with this album is the excellent production, with the guitar and drum sound absolutely huge. The second thing that strikes you as you weave your way through the album’s 12 tracks is the undeniable influence of the Pixies on catchy tracks like ‘Fall Around’, ‘Twenty Nothing’ and ‘Come At the King’– not so much in the vocal style but in the guitar style and tone, along with that trademark Pixies quiet/loud template that didn’t go unnoticed by Nirvana, another band with a notable influence here.
But False Heads are no carbon copies of those bands by any means, with Luke Griffiths’ angsty British punky vocal differentiating their sound. Tracks like ‘Wrap Up’ and ‘Rabbit Hole’ have an altogether more twisted, frenzied hard rock approach which works well, but the band are just as good on ‘Comfort Consumption’, taking a gentler approach with a more melodic vocal delivery benefitting from some great subtle vocal harmonies.
The result of four years hard graft gigging and honing their sound, False Heads have produced an accomplished, confident, distinctive and impressive debut album that will impress fans of alternative rock, indie and post-punk for sure. The album comes on limited edition ‘Vinyl Effect CD’ containing two additional tracks, plus a limited-edition silver vinyl LP, with an exclusive rework of ‘Twenty Nothing’ from Joe Cross (The Courteeners) thrown in for good measure.
- ‘It’s All There But You’re Dreaming’ is released on 5 February). You can get your copy, and loads of other False Heads goodies, HERE.
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