London quartet Fightmilk offer up a joyful racket on their second LP, Contender
Fightmilk’s second album
Contender proves itself worthy of the title. If you like catchy indierock/pop with lyrics that can cut down the best of them but just as easily abandon that tone for the heartfelt, and even profound, then Fightmilk are the band for you. Their 2018 debut,
Not With That Attitude, was a winning combination of bile, big hooks, and a great sense of humor and, although they didn’t need to, the band has expanded their palette on
Contender and it’s paid off handsomely. Lily Rae’s voice, already powerful, has become much more expressive as well, adding subtle inflections to strong lyrical lines and making these that much richer. The shout is still there, mind you, most evident in ‘Cool Cool Girl’ whose middle-eight list beginning “I’m a poet, I’m a DJ, I’m an artist, I’m amazing” gets right to the point, showing up the shallow ambitions of the titular type.