ULTIMATE LOVE FOREVER

Lex Walton — 2026

“ULTIMATE LOVE FOREVER sounds casual while being incredibly precise, with pounding rhythms, loud guitars, and catchy lines pouring out everywhere.”

Some records grab you by the ear in the first thirty seconds, and Lex Walton’s ULTIMATE LOVE FOREVER is one of them. This is her Sub Pop debut, but do not mistake that for a beginning. One stop at her Bandcamp page and you will see and hear how much came before: a huge pile of home-recorded albums and EPs, with that DIY spirit baked into everything here. I love that about it. What she brings to the label is lean, scruffy garage rock with indie post-punk cool and an almost effortless sense of melody, seven songs that arrive and wrap up in roughly twenty minutes. The guitar volume got me first. It is in your face and leans heavy, but it never takes over, as the rhythm section stays tight and noticeably pounding. This is hyper, rageful stuff, full of jolting lyrics and quiet-loud switches that yank you around, and yet the catchy lines keep pouring out. “For Thee I Sing,” “USA = FAG NATION,” and “Yr Op-Ed Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” have them everywhere, but nothing feels overstated.

Walton has a vocal style that stays up front and keeps your attention on her while the arrangements circle around and present different angles in the background. There is an early Beck sort of charge to the way it all moves. It tracks that Suicide and Alan Vega were early influences, because that same downtown edge lurks beneath the melodies. The real trick here is how casual it sounds while being incredibly precise. At the root of the record is Walton’s focus on the encroachment of fascism and the failure of artists to respond to the moment. Some listeners might not fully catch it at first because the music itself is so immediate, but the lyrics lay it out with an unwavering delivery. At roughly twenty minutes there is almost no wasted space. The songs arrive, make their point, and disappear. She is a prolific artist with a deep catalog, and this record carries the confidence of someone who has put in that time. Some listeners will inevitably get hung up on the fact that Walton is a transgender woman, but doing so misses the record entirely. This is not a great indie rock album because of who made it. It is simply a great indie rock album, full stop. Walton has made a record that deserves to be heard, discussed, and remembered on those terms.