It’s been one heck of a year for The Linda Lindas, who first exploded onto the guitar scene in March this year with a viral video of their first-ever single Racist, Sexist Boy. Building on this momentum, the LA quartet then signed with Epitaph, made their national TV debut and unleashed the infectious follow-up single, Oh!
Well, the punk proteges are bookending their sensational year in style and finishing 2021 in stellar form with the release thrashing new single, Nino.
Taken from the band’s upcoming as-yet-untitled debut album – due for a 2022 release – Nino is an ode to electric guitar player Bela’s cat, who apparently didn’t leave the six-stringer alone until she wrote a song about him.
It wasn’t entirely unprovoked pestering from Nino, though, as Bela had already written a song about her other siamese cat, Monica, which appeared on The Linda Lindas’ 2020 self-titled EP. Only fair, if you ask us.
It’s clear from the offset that the blossoming band – comprising guitarists Bela and Lucia, bassist Eloise and drummer Mila – is bounding from strength to strength, and that 2022 is going to be one helluva year for them.
The group’s most robust effort to date, Nino finds The Linda Lindas making ample use of thrashy chord passages and layered vocals that punctuate the track's under-two-minutes run time.
That means the guitar work is extra-concentrated, with a psych-esque breakdown throwing up all sorts of trippy effects and soundscapes, before The Linda Lindas hammer the track home as they belt out the chorus’s hook.
Oh, and those warbly piano parts in the breakdown? According to the band, “If you listen carefully there is a real-life, remarkably talented cat named Lil Dude playing piano on it. We have the footage!”
The Linda Lindas – who have received backing from a number of stars including Hayley Williams, Questlove, Flea and Tom Morello – will release their debut album next year. In the meantime, Nino is available to stream now via Epitaph (opens in new tab).
