Detroit’s grunge-pop singer-songwriter Zilched (Chloë Drallos) returns with her newest single + video for her gritty take on the Stevie Nicks hit, “Stand Back”. The track drips with Zilched’s signature style, creating an atmosphere of buzzy guitars and fuzzed-out vocals, while still maintaining the original’s passion and certainty, appropriately paying homage to the classic. Drallos expands, “I’ve always personally associated with the strong conviction of the lyrics and wanted to give the song a heavy guitar treatment, in hopes of emphasizing that strength.” 

Being the second half of a special two song EP, the track is the B-side to Drallos’ previous scorching single, “A Valentine.” Both tracks showcase Zilched comfortably operating in the thundering pop-saturated, loud-quiet-loud dynamic that earned last year’s debut album DOOMPOP support from several media outlets.  Paired with “A Valentine,” the two song outing is linked by a shared sense of resilience. “I think both songs share the same secure conviction; choosing to stick your own guns against adversity,” Drallos says.

Drallos has been making music as Zilched since the summer of 2017. Her debut EP Pulling Teeth was released in 2018 and provided the first glimpse of Zilched’s dizzying, wildly unpredictable noise-pop. Following this, Zilched released “Sleeper” following “The Morning” and “Blue Doom” in 2019, before her sound was amplified and solidified on 2020’s debut. Alongside Drallos, collaborator Nick Russo provides a droning percussive force—and when the correct pieces are in place, the explosive meets the ethereal. Drallos’ music is at its best; like a Lynchian dream sequence, embodying the notorious ethos of its hometown, Detroit: anxious poetics and a dark, underlying force that leads us into the unknown.

Photo Courtesy: Julia Koza