SHEEN

Written by Toby Rogers

No, it’s not tiger-blooded head case Charlie’s latest adventure into madness. But even if it was, it couldn’t be cooler than this. Shoegazing London six-piece Sheen sound like someone slipped a mogadon in your morning coffee. Part Velvet Underground heroin rush, part marabou stork nightmare, their swampy coma-delia is dense and unforgiving.

Opening with a chorus-drenched guitar riff that twists round lead singer Aneta’s haunting, Nico-esque vocals, Sheen’s recent track ‘One Step’ is a jarring, semi-conscious slice of contemporary drone-pop. With a drummer who sounds like they’re playing to a different click-track to the rest of the band, there’s an unerring sense of discomfort about the song. Like listening to a semi-tuned radio when you’re waking with a hangover, it’s the finest pop song you’ve ever heard shattered into pieces and reassembled in an alcohol-swamped mind.

Kaleidoscopic space-rock re-imagined for an audience in thrall to the recent sounds of Warpaint and EMA, Sheen are a compelling listen. It’s not pretty in places, but the finest rock ‘n’ roll never is. As off-kilter as anything to emerge from their namesake’s warlock brain, Sheen are here and they’re winning. Bring it.

Tip courtesy of Andy Von Pip from Von Pip Musical Express

Sheen artwork by Bruna Volpi