Piece War are a guitar and drums duo from Auckland featuring Barbara Rocha and Tina Pahema of the Coolies. At first glance, the band seem part of the well-worn garage aesthetic of cheaply distorted guitars, straight-forward drum patterns and sweetly-sang vocals – but the songs of Piece War always redeem themselves from these unfair associations.

‘Call on Me’ (and much of the rest of their digital EP, Apathy) carries a deep dose of turbidity underneath the sunny guitar-pop surface. It gets anxiously distracted mid-track before careering off into infectious (but quickly obscured) vocal melodies. ‘Dead Bodies’ (also on the Apathy EP) is the opposite, beginning sweetly before falling into a morbid, adjacent chorus. Like their expressions of insecurity and suggested failures, Piece War always push their songs to collapse.

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‘Call on Me’ is from a now sold out 10″ released on Epic Sweep Records, but the digital version can be purchased from Piece War’s bandcamp.