Head Fake Releases 3-Track EP With Dub Fu Masters

Head Fake's latest release is a three-track EP collaboration with Dub Fu Masters. The release, simply titled Head Fake vs Dub Fu Masters, is just over 15 minutes long, but contains three banging EDM tracks to bring back all the best of those clubbing memories and get listeners' feet tapping.

One Step, the opener, is a club-style mix of Head Fake's previously released track of the same name. It has a sharp, bouncy, Ibiza-remix feel with minimal vocals and an insistent electronic bassline. This was one of Head Fake's earliest tracks, but it now has a totally new lease of life in this version. The original can be found on Head's This too shall pass public Spotify playlist, for listeners keen to hear both versions.

Trump Funk, the second song up, aims to express the past four years of American politics in musical form. The longest track of the three, it is jangly, upbeat and multilayered, evoking the constant barrage of communication emanating from the White House and elsewhere during 45's tenure. It's a busy track with repetitive styling. Just when the listener thinks there's nothing more that can happen to the tune, the vocals kick in. Like the title's namesake, always throwing surprises.

Overjoyed, the closer, is the shortest track. It too has a bouncy feel, with the bassline and melody stabs harking back to the sound of Modern English, Blue-Monday-era New Order and similar 80s bands. The song's lyrics are philosophical and upbeat; 'I am alive, I am free, I am overjoyed', but the vocal style is laconic and shows a hidden depth of sadness. Very much out of the Joy Division or Morrissey playbook with elements of Depeche Mode thrown in for good measure. The original version is to be found on Head Fake's EP2.

Dub Fu Masters shared Head Fake's vision for these three tracks and was keen to enhance the album's club feel. The Head Fake trio agreed, and so the collaboration was born. Describing themselves as 'three minds, six hands and three voices', Head Fake make music which will be very recognisable to anyone familiar with the new romantic genre of the 80s. The group references many of that era's key sounds and groups by using retro synths paired with modern recording and mixing methods. The collective recorded the album in locations which were pivotal to the 80s sound: London, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Miami, making the most of the pandemic situation by using studios near where they were riding out the pandemic.

The album Head Fake vs Dub Fu Masters is on Spotify and other major streaming platforms, while Head Fake has a presence on Instagram.