Odd Shaped Head - Egomatic Annie

  by Jonjo McNeill

published: 22 / 9 / 2007

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Review

Single reviews are supposed to be small, so I’ll spare all the background information on Odd Shaped Head. But here are a few things you must know. Theres four of them, they hail from Newcastle, they’d prefer it if you called them Odd shApEd hEAd and they’re - not to put too fine a point on it - fucking great. For those who missed previous single ‘The Multi-Coloured Ket Song’ (a deranged punk nursery rhyme with more hooks than Abu Hamza’s wardrobe) they’ve very kindly brought us ‘Egomatic Annie’, a taster for their soon-to-land debut long player. And on the strength of this it's going to be some debut. Made to no formula but their own, it's got both of its feet on the right side of quirky. Hook after hook is layered and melded into and onto each other. Here is a band who absolutely do not give a fuck what else is being made around them. The fact that in the space of three minutes and twenty eight seconds they manage to drag what is essentially a pop song through the realms of punk, rock, (what some people might call) indie and even a little bit of prog shows their utter disregard for fashions – a highly appealing characteristic in these days of 5-minute-fads and haircut rockstars. This is eclecticism at it’s best. Driving angular guitars, st-st-stuttering drums and sun-drenched harmonies blend into a sound that is as unique as their incredible live shows. That they’ve managed to tie their sound down at all is a small wonder, to improve on it is nothing short of amazing. I will - here and now - declare this the best pop song since the last Odd Shaped Head single. Quite simply an amazing record from an amazing new band. I await their album with great enthusiasm and urge anyone with ears on their head (whatever shape that might be) to hunt this one out and guzzle it down. Marvellous.

Track Listing:-

1 Egomatic Annie
2 Unless