Glasgow’s Kilgour deliver a smooth slice of shoegaze on Solar Head

Glaswegian-come-Irish band Kilgour have already shown themselves to be an exciting new band to emerge on the rock scene. Named by founding member Fionn Crossan after his favourite character from ‘Breakfast of Champions’ by Kurt Vonnegut, the project expanded into a fully-fledged band towards the latter half of the pandemic. Their last single Set It Alight was a rousing, grungy number that signified their return to recorded music after almost two years, and cemented the direction in which their sound was to go. Solar Head continues this trajectory, although with a much subtler approach.  

Atmospheric feedback and hypnotic guitar passages begin the track, with the vocals arriving with an air of Sun Kil Moon in his delivery. The song continues on a wave of unease, something which gives the vaguely dreamy lyrics a maliciousness. Once the chorus hits, however, everything lifts. Acoustic guitars cut through the mix, and on the back end, piano adds to the sense of discomfort, playing a counter-point that appears to sit on the edge of feeling wrong. It’s a sweet relief that disperses the tension of the verses, before dropping us back in.

Watch the music video for Solar Head by Kilgour on YouTube:

The heavy bridge comes as a necessary explosion of distortion. It’s messy, unapologetically so, calling back to the very essence of grunge and shoegaze. It makes the final chorus all the more heavenly, and almost innocent sounding, transiting back into the soothing melody and acoustic perfectly. The track flitters away as softly as it begins, leading to the illusion that it could loop back around, and leave you trapped in the bizarre dream forever. 

With this being only the second single with a full line up, Kilgour are already standing out among many of their contemporaries. Solar Head is a hauntingly beautiful song, taking influence from current bands such as Fontaines D.C., as well as the staple acts, but also showing enough of their own flare to be able to stand out. It’s this meld of old and new that will have listeners excited for what is to come.

The band headline Glasgow’s Hug and Pint on the 15th of September, and play their debut show tonight (August 19th) at King Tut’s, supporting MEMES. You can find them on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

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