Made up of musicians from England and Ireland,
M(h)aol
(pronounced "male") came together around singer/lyricist
Roisin Nic Ghearailt
(she/her), who began trying to process her experiences with and emotional reactions to sexual violence and the patriarchy through song in the mid-2010s. She revisited her first attempt, called "Asking for It," in 2020 and recorded it with a band to raise funds for Women's Aid in 2021. The group stuck together for a debut EP,
Gender Studies
, that garnered attention from BBC radio and publications like The New York Times and NME for songs including the title track, a reggae-punk entry about the absurdity of gender dualism, and "No One Ever Talks to Us," a similarly calmly confident yet instrumentally squalling punk-poetry outing that repeats the claim "No one ever talks to us unless they want" -- to paraphrase -- sex. With their fan base growing,
re-recorded "Asking for It" in more visceral, volatile, and bellicose fashion for the post-punks' full-length debut,
Attachment Styles
(which also includes "No One Ever Talks to Us"). The 11-track album is packed with similarly confrontational and cathartic anthems for the queer- and feminist-allied, such as the jagged, crescendoing "Bored of Men," with its relentless, tribal-like drums ("I'm so bored of talking about men/Look at the news, is it that time again?"), and "Femme" ("I should have cut off my hair/When I knew I was queer/It would have made it easier/On everyone here"). Also included here are recordings like "Bisexual Anxiety," an ironic spoken-word track in the style of a recorded spa greeting, the explicitly sex-positive "Period Sex," and the broiling "Therapy" ("I should bill you for my therapy/But I don't want your name on there"). Playful, catchy, noisy, and completely irreverent,
may be just what the doctor -- or psychiatrist -- ordered for anyone who's fed up with the patriarchy or simply has an affection for groups ranging from
the Waitresses
to
Bikini Kill
and
Dry Cleaning
. ~ Marcy Donelson