Perfect Alignment

The Oohlas “Lemmings Anthem”

As you can probably gather from its title, “Lemmings Anthem” is a song that criticizes conformity, written from the perspective of a person who deeply distrusts the rituals of modern life while at the same time envying the perks of doing exactly what it is expected of her. The interesting twist here is that the lyrics emphasize credit cards, debt, and living well above one’s means as being a crucial aspect of this horrible conformity, and rightly calls into question a rush into “adult” living without having a sensible, mature relationship with money.

The composition itself is another in a line of sharp tunes from the Oohlas, a band from Los Angeles who excel at producing catchy songs in a sub-genre that is instantly recognizable and understood, but to my knowledge has no proper name. I mean, I could say “early-to-mid ’90s-style female-fronted alt-rock” but that’s a bit wordy, you know? There really should be a proper taxonomy for this, because there is certainly an entire canon of material in this vein, and not just the Breeders, who are the most obvious reference point thanks to singer Ollie Stone’s vocal similarities to Kim and Kelly Deal. I’d propose a genre name if I had one, but I don’t. Maybe you do?

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