The album drips powerful riffs, crunching guitars, all coming at you from a basis of some strong melodies. A case in point is the unputdownable “Your Bones”. Part punk pop, part whatever you want to call it, it thunders along with a hugely memorable song that will have you unconsciously humming the damn thing at the most embarrassing moments.
Certainly Headstunts has an air of determined drive about it. This is a band that busted down the door to the studio positively brimming with ideas.
Phil Buscke and Christian Livingstone’s guitars are powerful enough to drive the hangover from your head. Ben Cole clearly slots in very well indeed pounding his drums and constantly driving the band onward.
“Yeah Yeah Just Another Mistake” and “So Long” could both raise the dead from a century or two of slumber. The latter has another of those hooks that lifts it high, very high. The former has a guitar solo that is exceptional.
“Hey! Paranoid People! (What’s In Your Head?)” turns its title back on the unsuspecting listener with a chorus that becomes the answer to its own question. It’s tracks like this that makes the album sound amazingly fresh and new. It is crammed full of good ideas, and new directions whilst still allowing the odd nod to the old.
Breathlessly sitting here having just been assaulted by a near manic “Pity Pity Please” it makes me realize that this is a band who loved every minute of the album’s creation. It ends with another huge standout “Somebody Better”. This is a monumental track, a brilliantly constructed song that oozes confidence. The best of the bunch that, for me, just nudges “Eye Of The Needle” off top spot.
The previous albums, starting with the self titled debut of 2002, and working through 2004’s Outta Sight, Outta Mind, and 2006’s Smoke & Mirrors, despite showing huge potential, didn’t altogether prepare me for this. Headstunts, for me, is The Datsuns finest moment to date. Released on the Cooking Vinyl label in the US on May 12th.
The Datsuns can be found on their official website or the band's MySpace page.
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