While New Zealand’s Miss June have pricked the ears of A-list rockers like the Foo Fighters and Shellac, they have also been hard at work writing driving rock songs with vocal hooks a-plenty.

Their 2019 summer smash “Best Girl” churns out some ear-splitting guitar fuzz with anthemic choruses that stick with you long after the song’s three minute mark. “It’s a bad luck party and nobody wins but me” sings lead singer rhythm guitarist Annabel Liddel in her raucous, yet charismatic croon. The lyrics come off as a risqué  Lesley Gore as channeled through Sleater-Kinney-esque chants.

With a heaping dose of feminism and layers of guitar distortion, Best Girl grooves along a winding rock song structure that breaks just the right rules and rewards the listener with pure rock euphoria.

“I wanna be your best girl / I wanna be the one who takes down the world / I heard a rumour that it’s a boys world / I heard about, I heard about that girl.”

The lyrics are matched by a driving rhythm section and guitar crank that finds its way to the top of the mix. Is Miss June done with their search for revolution rock? Absolutely not. They are progressively setting the stage for some ear-splitting anarchy that is poised to sound original and unmistakably catchy.

-Miles Rinehart