ALBUM REVIEW: Head Sound - The Secret of Enjoying Life
**This article originally appeared in our April 2026 print issue**
“While debut albums can often find bands still seeking their own sound, Head Sound knows just where they want to be, and listeners will want to be right there with them.”
Shoegaze is a bit of an odd genre to grapple with sometimes. With alternative, indie pop, or hip-hop for example, you’re expecting to find a nugget to sing along to or a riff to stick in your head. Whenever I’ve put on shoegaze, it’s because I’m seeking something to help me step back from other senses — to zone out and reconnect with myself. Head Sound’s new album (their first album, actually), The Secret of Enjoying Life, is a perfect example of how to bring that soft, mellow shoegaze sound while simultaneously creating a compelling listen.
A common complaint I’ve heard about shoegaze is that “every song sounds the same.” Head Sound defies this notion immediately with a dynamic first three tracks: “Gems,” “Sechsunt,” and the titular “The Secret of Enjoying Life.” “Gems” starts off with a surround-sound feel, building up through electric guitar melodies, pulsing drums, and that classic sheen of atmospheric reverb, all like stepping stones up to the larger chorus. At six minutes and 31 seconds long, there’s plenty of movement in the song to keep the listener engaged dynamically and tempo-wise.
“Sechsunt,” while still carrying that surround-sound feel and twinkling guitar, feels a bit darker compared to the first track. While “Gems” featured reflective lyrics like “What are the things that bring happiness when I’m sad?”, “Sechsunt” features lyrics to match the minor tones, such as “Like a baby with an old man’s eyes, I would hide away all day and cry / ‘I wanna go home’ I would say hundreds of times.” There’s an underlying riff that gives the whole track a darker feel, creating an intriguing contrast with the lighter melody that’s more easily heard atop the percussion.
To really separate the first three songs from any other shoegaze album, “The Secret of Everything” is a spoken-word track. There’s a clicking beat underneath a techno-feeling melody (it nearly sounds like a xylophone) and other space-like beats, all soundtracking recordings of… I’m not really sure what. Whatever it is, it offers wisdom in quotes like “You have got to be happy in those quiet moments when you remember that you are alive.” While I feel like I’m missing a reference, I’m sure there are listeners out there who will be yelling at me through the pages to rectify what I’ve missed.
The rest of the album really pulls from the tropes created in these first three tracks, mixing sweet-sounding electric guitar with lots of echoing accompaniment and soft vocals cushioning each song. Single “Like A Painting” once again draws from that techno-like beginning for the first ten seconds before percussion builds into a crash, ushering in the hardest, loudest electrics the record has seen thus far by track six. It quickly smooths and subsides into a verse, returning for a jolt each chorus to level up the simple “Oooohs” that exist in that space.
Track nine, “Hyperion,” also plays around with this edginess, featuring a dark bass line to accompany the high vocals for the first minute before tumbling into fast drums and guitar to welcome in the wailing questions of “Where? Where do we go? Why are we fighting?”. The way that it mixes this alt sound with reverb-heavy features, this track is a definite favorite for me. It gives me something to move my body to while also letting me achieve that zoned-out state. What can I say, I like to have options!
In full, the record is a success in playing into the shoegaze genre while putting their own stamp on it. While debut albums can often find bands still seeking their own sound, Head Sound knows just where they want to be, and listeners will want to be right there with them.
The Secret of Enjoying Life is out April 3 on all streaming platforms.
