Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister

Rough-hewn fuzz merchants and indie pop sensations Joanna Gruesome named their debut album Weird Sister – a Shakespearean nod to the witches from Macbeth, and all things hysterical and outsiderish, it seems. Unsurprisingly then, the album itself scores highly in the disciplines of wailing and stubborn defiance. It’s all scuzzy pop melodies and boy/girl vocals engaging a war of attrition.

So far so Yuck, but there’s an underlying punk attitude that comes out of the woodwork on the likes of Secret Surprise which allows Joanna Gruesome to neatly sidestep the majority of their grubby dream-pop contemporaries.

Lemonade Grrrl seizes the lemons of all things Portland and Riot Grrrl, sweetened with Alanna McArdle’s gentle but fearless vocals. Satan reveals a more delicate side to the Cardiff-based five piece. It closes the explosively raucous album with subtle ease, showing that beneath their carefully orchestrated rowdiness, Joanna Gruesome know precisely what they’re doing. [Lucy Holt]