Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Mammoth Penguins

  • There's No Fight We Can't Both Win [Fika, 2019] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

There's No Fight We Can't Both Win [Fika, 2019]
Relocated to hightone London-adjacent Cambridge from industrial northern Sheffield and playing guitar not bass, former Standard Fare frontwoman Emma Kupa has released three albums with her two male bandmates as well as an eponymous solo job. This 2019 entry is the keeper, solid proof that at the very least she deserves a nicer boyfriend (or girlfriend, though her scrupulous second person doesn't quite cancel lines like "It was a dick move baby"). Commonsensically and prosaically but also fervently and you bet tunefully, she's trying her best and getting better at it. Sure she still suffers gaffes and insecurities she needs to get beyond. But you'll expect she's got it in her. A-