REVIEW: Alien Chicks - Toys Taken At Birth
If you have been paying attention to the British alternative music scene over the last few years, you will have heard about the Windmill in Brixton. You may have seen stills of your favourite up-and-coming weirdos playing in front of a gold tinsel backdrop, or you may have caught the shimmer of it in the background of a video where someone is shirtless and crowd-surfing over a handful of impassioned gig-goers. You may have even been lucky to attend a show there yourself, and come away wondering one thing - how is such a small venue seemingly such a huge catapult for the UK’s brightest new guitar bands?
It's impossible to say, but that doesn't stop it from being true. With bands such as BLACK MIDI, BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD and FAT WHITE FAMILY even being grouped under the colloquialism of 'the Windmill Scene'. Local Brixton band ALIEN CHICKS are a natural extension of that scene - a strange, frantic and mesmerising three-piece, made up of Josef Lindsay (guitar, vocals), Stefan Parker-Steele (bass, backing vocals) and Martha Daniels (drums, backing vocals). Having released music since 2022 - including a live EP recorded at the Windmill itself - their sound has slowly become more refined and unique, and nowhere is this more evident than on new EP Toys Taken At Birth.
Opening track Mad Men sees the band grappling with the reality of the political system - professing their belief that ‘democracy doesn’t exist anymore’ over a bed of pounding drums and guitars during the chorus, and then paring back the production to a steady bassline, twinkly guitars and a spoken-word delivery during the verses. It’s as stripped back as the EP gets, but the darker subject matter is always lurking behind the corner. We only make it two songs in before we reach the standard chaos that is to be expected from an ALIEN CHICKS release. Now I’m Big starts fairly tamely, but builds to distorted guitars and a rapped segment, similar in style to Northern contemporaries MARUJA. The bass line in the verse is hypnotic and pulsing, bringing an urgent edge to the track.
But it’s the next track that really steals the show. 5/4 is frenetic, right up until it isn’t. Every instrument has seemingly been instructed to melt away the sanity of anyone who listens, with short snappy basslines and crashing cymbals, whilst Lindsay puts on a vocal performance like he’s in a theatre production - every line as emotive and energetic as the last. Around halfway through, the track turns momentarily into a cover of The Teddy Bear’s Picnic, before everything descends into chaos once again. Then, the words become indecipherable, whilst the drum kit seemingly explodes. It’s on this track that the step up in production quality from previous EP Forbidden Fruit is the most obvious, too, with everything sounding much cleaner - even in all of the chaos.
I Killed Uncle Ben is the track that feels the most out of place on the album, though it’s not a bad track by any stretch. Lindsay’s vocal chops are fully on show here, able to fully shine without as much of a cacophony alongside it. It’s a mellower track for the most part, picking up towards the end but still feeling as though it doesn’t quite fit amongst the distortion and energy of the other tracks. The final track - a cover of MISSY ELLIOTT’s hit R&B song Get Ur Freak On - is an incredibly fun way to close out the EP. The guitar line feels like it could’ve been written by the band, it slips in so easily into their catalogue, and it’s always refreshing to hear an artist make a cover their own.
When the final notes ring out, it’s hard not to wish for more tracks. Toys Taken At Birth is an insanely energetic EP, and another step forward in their catalogue. The pacing, structure and performances are well considered and measured, but everything is coated in a layer of fun and whimsy that’s so thick, that everything feels so effortless. Whatever is in the water at the Windmill in Brixton, has clearly worked its magic once again with ALIEN CHICKS.
Score: 8/10
Toys Taken At Birth will be released on 2nd October 2026 via Alcopop! Records.
Words: Ellen Lovell
Photos: CJ Kerr
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