Ladyhawk’s rock n roll has the essence of a marching militia about it, the spirit of buckets as drums and broomstick’s strung with shoelaces for guitars. Fight For Anarchy, the band’s second release, while not After the Gold Rush or La Marseillaise, displays a tendency towards the engagingly ragged and anthemic; piqued and sanguine. Melodically surging ditty’s ‘War’, ‘If You Run’, and ‘You Ran’ have a playful intensity and camaraderie about them that relieve tension by inciting it.

Being a vinyl only release, I did wonder what the record player would bring to Anarchy that my MP3’s lacked, surmising that the needle would lend what it always did: that rustic yet technological haze (like FM static in the backwater) reminding the listener that music is an event.

‘Amber Jam’, at 0:45, is the briefest and, consequently?, most compelling of the six songs offered. It’s Latin groove and stirring/lulling repetition are perhaps reason enough why it wasn’t taken beyond 0:45, but it is the most interesting sound on the EP, the one vastly unlike the others, and I won’t think myself a glutton for wanting more of it.

The somewhat discomfiting weariness that drives the plaintive croaks of ‘Boy You Got Another Thing Coming’ may be where Ladyhawk wanted to go but serves as evidence for actions to the contrary. To be fair, the song’s echoing electric guitar squawks are an encouragement to persevere, though not overwhelmingly so. ‘Red Teeth’ footsteps this chasm as well, both songs bedding tensions down, which is not what Fight is after, or at least what it does best. It wants to stir, invoke, incite, shout in a flummox. When marching this avenue Ladyhawk compels reaction. Elsewhere they’re just breaking hearts.