Alien Chicks - Forbidden Fruit EP

There's something delightfully unhinged about Alien Chicks' latest EP that makes it impossible to pin down. 'Forbidden Fruit' is a six-track fever dream that jumps between genres with the grace of a charging rhinoceros – and that's entirely the point.

Opening with 'Donkeyhead', the London trio waste no time establishing their manifesto of controlled chaos. The track's stabbing guitar work and erratic time signatures set up the wildcard energy that defines the collection. When they follow it with 'Babe', the whiplash between punk aggression and jazz-inflected passages feels less like genre tourism and more like genuine musical exploration.

The EP hits its stride with 'Dairylea', where Josef Lindsay's rapid-fire vocal delivery - "put the poison in the Dairylea" - crashes headlong into Stefan Parker-Steele's serpentine bass lines. It's here that Martha Daniels' explosive drumming really shines, providing an anchor while simultaneously threatening to tear everything apart.

'Mr Muscle' might be the closest thing to a mission statement, its cleaning product metaphors cutting through to something deeper about modern monotony. The song's structure mirrors its message, with time signatures that refuse to settle into comfortable patterns.

If there's a standout moment, it arrives with 'I've Become A Palm Tree' – a surrealist piece that somehow makes perfect sense within the EP's twisted logic. The closing track 'Say Fish' brings everything full circle, though calling anything about this collection 'circular' feels like missing the point entirely.

What makes 'Forbidden Fruit' work is how it balances its experimental tendencies with songcraft. The band's refusal to be easily categorised could have resulted in a messy vanity project, but instead, we get something that feels vital and purposeful. Even at their most chaotic, Alien Chicks never lose sight of their musical north star, even if that star seems to be spinning in several directions at once. This is post-punk for people who think they've heard everything post-punk can offer.