Album Review: Royal Headache - High

Despite its reportedly difficult genesis, second effort High finds Sydney rockers Royal Headache at their formidable best, stripping back the rock'n'roll caper to its core essence and in the process making the creation of timeless, classic-sounding songs seem ludicrously straightforward.

There's a ramshackle elegance to High's musical beds, all catchy garage rock featuring lazily jubilant guitars, chugging rhythms and an all-pervading sense of detached cool. Yet as ever it's frontman Shogun's super-expressive voice and brilliant vocal arrangements which layer more hooks over the already beguiling music to give Royal Headache their edge. His vocals sit far higher in the mix than on 2012's eponymous debut, highlighting the passionate conviction of both his soul-tinged delivery and his cryptic-but-personal lyrics. It's a lovelorn batch full of longing and desire — served perfectly by the ragged production of Straight Arrows' Owen Penglis — songs so rooted in real life that they're eminently relatable. Opener My Own Fantasy reflects on a hedonistic worldview past its use-by-date, Need You and High are stomping love letters to an old flame, Garbage is an acerbic (but kinda funny) affront, while Another World and Carolina seem like enduring hits of yesteryear, familiar from the first spin.

All ten tracks are imperative, and despite inherent immediacy still flourish with repeated exposure. High flies by in a glorious rush and then demands an immediate return to the forefront of your mind, like some wonderful legal drug. Get High, get addicted.