Alex Walton's Shame Music

God, I love noise. Popular music, as I see it, was created to catch listeners in a snare and to occupy each and every one of the senses, at least by proxy, through artistic evocations, until the time comes that technology allows us to effectively smell and taste audio; until then, I demand that music be made wherein no empty spaces are left and no sound is discriminated against on the grounds that it carries no melody or rhythm. I want to hear the cracks and the static. Give me the noise.

In the reality that I’ve created in my head and partially in my life, Alex Walton is the world’s foremost noise rockstar. She does not have a large audience. Because I know so little about her, I am able to project a vague and fantastic image onto her that satisfies my demand for the noise music all-star of the future. She is, I believe, between twenty and twenty-five years old and will always be, and yet she was present in Jean Genet’s seedy Paris until she moved to London in perfectly-timed anticipation of the pop music explosion that would take place there, and she witnessed it all, as well as the subsequent CBGB rock and roll riots in New York, in the vivid color that photographs and films could never have captured. Her tragic and sweet lyrics betray the markings she must have left in faded copies of Arthur Rimbaud’s poetry books. It could be that none of this is true, but I will continue to run with this biography until it is disproven. Her Spotify artist bio reads:

“Alex and friends are all in a rock and roll band together in Boston called the Shame Music All Star Band, and they love to play beautiful rock and roll music for everyone. The band plays loud, Alex sings, and thrashes about like a drunken siren of Transcendent Ultimate Love Pop For All People Forever.”

So, with the background out of the way, let's talk about the music.

Right before the end of 2020, Alex Walton released her debut album, Shame Music. It is an absolute racket. Highlights include the pop ballad “Holocene”, one of the more listenable tracks wherein a pretty and somber melody drives forward a chorus of shining guitars and chewed-up, spit-out synth arrangements, as well as “Girl Week”, a short and sweet glam track with lyrics that deserve to be scrawled on the walls of the most prestigious nightclub bathroom in America. Of course, the album’s bittersweet peak comes with the title track, which is warm and up-close with shredded, screaming solos and beautifully barefaced lyrics before sinking into an abyss of distorted noise.

Her most recent full-length record, Our Desire Lacks Knowing Music, was released in August 2023. Though it is not as catchy, it rocks decidedly harder than Shame Music without taking itself too seriously. “Full Life Consequences” and “Teri Toye Cherry Bomb” are songs written to shatter glass, with the latter sporting guitarwork that sounds like something Malcolm Young might be doing right now if he hadn't allowed his death to get in the way of his music career. Tracks like “Prom Night (Under Grand Shelter)” and “In Loving Perpetuity”, however, have beautiful melodies beneath the noisy recording styles that feel incredibly, beautifully personal and sweet. “I Appreciate the Sentiment” is a perfect, laid-back, drifting noise pop for now until the end times.

The point is, if you like music, you should listen to Alex Walton. Her melodies should deafen ears before they fall on deaf ears.