Look, sometimes you listen to an album and it sounds like the kind of gigs only really cool people hear about and you only find out about them long after the scene has probably fizzled out or something. That’s no criticism, or some cynical claim of hipsterdom or anything like that – but rather, they feel so immediate and brand new, that you get a specific kind of excited.

So, given that Lex Walton’s ‘Ultimate Love Forever’ is released on Sub Pop, that’s a vibe that feels very right somehow, like being a teenager who is green with envy at all these cool DIY shows in the States that you could only dream of attending.

What we are faced with is some in-yer-face garage pop that, mercifully, doesn’t feel too cool to have a little fun and get in people’s faces. The whole record clatters around, and sometimes, it feels like they might actually hate you for listening, but at the same time, would also spring you out of the back of a police car if needed.

Looking at a title like ‘Yr Op-Ed Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore’ sounds like a ‘fuck you’ and a riotous laugh at the same time, and by the time it’s bouncing around your speakers, it’s a good-time glam stomper of noise and distortion, while Walton sings “I hope you die – I mean it”, you’re like ‘to hell with it, I’m with her and whoever she’s talking about!’

‘Hipster Runoff’ – yep, remember that blog? – is a catchy-as-hell fuzzpop number which is lean and cocky, which has that shark-eyed beat poetry thing going on that made a legend of many in the underground, with Walton volleying:

“Hypnagogic republicans, shitgaze landlords – short form video content optimised for playlists. Algorithms build futures, don’t lose the rights to your masters, but hey, what do I know – I’ll believe anything.”

It really is stirring stuff and we should probably make a star of Lex, honestly.

And this album it doesn’t fuck around much either, with the whole thing coming in under 20 minutes, in 7 noisy, crackling tracks.

You’ll pick up on a bunch of other great acts while listening to it, although you’d be loathed to stick your neck out and say they’re actual influences. That said, if you like Alan Vega, Lou Reed, all manner of New Wave and whatnot, and no doubt, a hundred brilliant local bands that the likes of us haven’t heard of.

Thing is, when someone delivers polemic like this, it can grate pretty easy, but Lex’s version of being pissed off, genuinely angry, disaffected and whatever else you got, it feels like the real deal. Sections of it are so tetchy that you begin to wonder if some of the other angry bands are just putting it on for clicks.

Of course, there’s plenty for Walton to rail against – be it the US slide into fascism, guns, stan culture, and artists saying nothing about it – and it’s all in there, mixed in with general bile and ire aimed elsewhere, but at no point does it feel like a drag. It’s an energetic, righteous time that makes you actually enjoy hearing someone say “some people should be shot”, and trying to work out if they’re being sincere or not.

You suspect they are, and fuck it, we’re here for it.

This is someone who we’re only just cottoning on to, and that might be on us, but this is a record that had us feeling energised and glad that someone is just straight-up talking shit, fiercely smart, and forgoing all the terrible politeness that has blighted much of rock ‘n’ roll in recent years.

Fact is, this is taking the names and numbers of smug, liberal dickheads, Proud Boys, hipsters, and more, and the USA is in a sorry state, and yet, Lex has made an album that makes you yell “YES! THIS IS AMERICA! THIS IS WHAT THE AMERICANS DO BEST!” It’s for the people that get it, and while there’s so much irritation, this is in fact a very joyful album.

Maybe that’s what’s been missing this entire time – resistance that you can dance too.

Lex Walton has made a scintillating record and you’re hereby advised to grab hold of ‘Ultimate Love Forever’ with both hands and keep tabs on whatever she does next.

The perfect album for North America, 2026, made by an angry, hip trans girl with a guitar. What’s not to love about that?