“You don’t owe no demonstration / Who cares about their validation?!” growls the title observe of The Linda Lindas’ sophomore album, ‘No Obligation’. The punchy two-minute anthem wastes no time in asserting the band’s staunch political stance: we’re not right here to do what you inform us, and as younger girls, you’ve been telling us so much. With a quick-paced, Amyl and the Sniffers-like riff, they taunt their listeners to even attempt to query their very own self-determination.
The sentiment is way the identical as on their 2022 debut, ‘Rising Up’, although tremendously advanced – it’s extra gutsy but additionally extra self-aware. They’re distinctive for the way they mix the political sloganeering of Riot Grrrl with the emo sensibilities of pop-punk, symbolising a extra inventive method to the previous and a mandatory political shift within the latter. Tracks like ‘All In My Head’ and ‘Don’t Assume’ take the attitude of – rightfully – pissed-off teenage ladies attempting to navigate their lives whereas white supremacist, patriarchal powers kick them down and shove them right into a field.
Of their extra weak moments, they increase questions on find out how to kind an id exterior of what’s anticipated of them and find out how to dwell in adherence with their political values as younger feminists. Take the softer ‘As soon as Upon A Time,’ through which the band assert, “I’m good at being indignant… I’m good” earlier than the refrain breaks out: “It’s not about screaming / It’s not about tryna disguise / I’m tryna see how they see me / I’m tryna see what they like.” How can we, for instance, permit ourselves to be accommodating and type with out being taken benefit of for our positioning as younger girls?
The place different pop-punk revivalists – like Olivia Rodrigo – would possibly solely allude to the political circumstances that make this the expertise of being a younger girl, The Linda Lindas are way more in your face about it, intertwining each expertise they write about with the larger image. Take ‘Too Many Issues’, the place in a single breath they’re lamenting the quantity of stress they’re underneath – “Too many creases I’m too small / Quickly I shall be nothing in any respect,” they share earlier than they assert: “Can’t you see I’m tryin’ to be awake?!” – and questioning how a lot change we are able to incite as a person. It’s invigorating and the sort of intelligent teenage angst that made Winona Ryder a ‘90s icon – kinda emo, very good, self-aware and sarcastic.
With accelerated guitars and fast drum beats, there are apparent homages to the very best bands of their chosen genres: assume Babes in Toyland, Bikini Kill, The Breeders and Paramore. ‘Lose Your Self’ and ‘Decision/Revolution’ really feel like an growth of the political pop-punk that fellow Californians – and their latest tourmates – Inexperienced Day mastered. Swirling collectively skate-punk drums with breathless paranoia and spooky gang vocals, the band embodies the us-versus-them horror of America’s political circumstances in tracks that would’ve slotted comfortably on ‘American Fool’. “They assume we can’t / Too scared to think about / Us and them, we’re not on the identical wavelength,” they rally on ‘Decision/Revolution’.
‘No Obligation’ isn’t only a hopeless depiction of the States, although (hey, there’s a ‘Bizarre’ Al Yankovic characteristic!). It’s an exhilarating punk album with the intention of mobilising those that take heed to it. There’s rage, disappointment, delight and bitterness inside each sound and syllable, and from inside that cocktail of emotions is a charged devotion to creating change.
Particulars
- Launch date: October 11, 2024
- File label: Epitaph
