Melbourne’s Lothario Cuts Through the Kitsch Conventions of Romance With Hedonistic “Hogtied” LP

Clear blue eyes, they see through me

A vacant stare, avoidance cuts clear

On one knee with your heresy,

time kills all the ones like me

Australia’s Lothario storms forth as an unrelenting rebellion, a sonic revolt against the banal, born from Melbourne’s restless nights and the razor-sharp vision of Annaliese Redlich. This post-punk powerhouse tears through the mundane with raw, reckless anthems that howl for the bored, the brazen, and the broken.

Conceived in a November haze of 2022, Lothario channels the fevered pulse of late-night hedonism, grappling with themes of lust, betrayal, and liberation. Redlich’s songs bleed catharsis—drunk on discontent and bruised by betrayals, they lash out with fiery intent.

From the confines of her living room, where every instrument but the drums found its voice, Redlich conjures a sound bristling with immediacy. Love letters to outcasts and odes to chaos ripple with unfiltered intensity, daring listeners to rage against regret and dance through despair. Her music doesn’t whisper—it screams, an unapologetic roar against self-doubt and silence. Lothario harks back to the ferocity of the Dead Kennedys, BiTyrant and Bikini Kill, the sneering wit of X-Ray Spex, and the venomous screeching swagger of Lydia Lunch. It’s a soundtrack for the restless—a visceral anthem for those ready to confront their demons, embrace their flaws, and revel in the beautiful mess of rebellion until the sun creeps over the horizon.

All the more remarkable: not one song clocks over the three-minute mark.

Hogtied thrashes with the tension of inner battles, barbed by self-doubt and the relentless need for validation. It tightens like a noose, entwining vulnerability and defiance, each lyric steeped in fractured identities and emotional erosion. The song claws at the suffocating burdens of a dual existence, asking whether love or power can ever mend the soul’s quiet disrepair. Drunk Fuck staggers through a haze of hedonism, capturing the aimless hunger of a restless Saturday night. Lust and liquor blur the lines as fleeting thrills take precedence over intimacy. Borrowing a brash wink from Dead Kennedys’ Too Drunk to Fuck, it swaps satire for raw carnality, rejecting attachment in favor of unhinged, no-strings desire.

BBBF bursts forth like a fire untamed, raw and relentless in its hunger. Its words hit like hammer blows, blunt and bold, with no room for pretense—just a searing heat of desire stripped to its essence. It’s a furious ode to indulgence, roaring with reckless abandon and primal need. Black Hair hums with a magnetic pull, a fevered attraction to a figure both mysterious and unforgettable. Beneath the desire lies a trembling unease, the specter of heartbreak shadowing the longing. Past pain lingers like a wound yet to heal, but the allure of something extraordinary refuses to fade, beckoning despite the risk. Rodeo Clown reels with the ache of betrayal, the weight of promises broken and connections undone. Its imagery stings with sharp clarity—loss, anger, and the bitter taste of consequence. The fallout lands heavy, leaving solitude in its wake and anger burning bright.

Panter gnashes at the roots of generational decay, unearthing a relentless cycle of quiet rebellion and reluctant conformity. With searing images of control and predator instincts, it lays bare the simmering rage and despair that lurk beneath the polished veneer of societal expectations. The song seethes with the weight of inherited flaws and unspoken frustrations. Overdrawn staggers through a feverish haze of indulgence, its desperate grasp for escape teetering between fleeting highs and crushing lows. Chaos reigns as betrayal and self-destruction tangle in a web of reckless decisions. As the night spirals into the stark honesty of dawn, exhaustion and emptiness hit with sobering force. Missing Person aches with longing, painting love as a vanishing act that leaves behind fragments and unanswered questions. Objects and memories linger like ghosts, tugging at the edges of clarity. It’s a bittersweet dirge, love both felt and lost in the same breath.

G.E.N.E. plunges into a pitch-black realm of violence and survival, where desperation snarls and ferocity strikes like a blade in the night. Chaos churns as the hunter and hunted clash in a relentless pursuit, blood and steel painting a grim symphony of endurance. Cold determination and primal instinct drive this unyielding fight, where survival is both brutal and triumphant. King Rat gnaws at themes of power, submission, and decay, a grotesque portrait of dominance and degradation. Hunger and death stalk its lines, with the “king rat” reigning as both predator and parasite—a figure of corrupt authority and irresistible pull. Dreams and reality blur under its malevolent grip, a haunting embodiment of fear wrapped in fascination. Doggy bares its teeth with raw, provocative energy, channeling a wild tension between dominance and submission. Animalistic metaphors snarl through commanding repetition, weaving playful defiance with unfiltered desire. It’s a charged dance of power and physicality, pulsing with primal need and unapologetic intensity.

Suckhole dives headfirst into the festering pit of a toxic entanglement, where manipulation and decay churn everything into chaos. Pain coils tightly around each line, dragging the listener into a suffocating cycle of dependence and despair. As the song claws forward, a fiery defiance sparks, breaking free from the crushing grip and tearing apart the corrosive ties that once held it captive. It’s a raw and unrelenting struggle toward release. Finally, Lothario’s cover of Gerry Rafferty’s classic Right Down The Line is stripped bare, its smooth 70s soul gutted and left in jagged pieces. What once crooned softly now snarls with droll disdain, a lo-fi reinvention dripping with venom. Lydia Lunch-style spoken-word sneers replace the original’s tenderness, turning vulnerability into something bitter. Fuzz-drenched guitars and distorted vocals bite and claw, transforming romance into a sharp-edged commentary that refuses to soothe, simmering instead with scornful fury.

Listen to Hogtied below, out now on digital and cassette via Low Ambition Records. It is also available on vinyl via Under The Gun Records. Order the album here.

Hogtied by Lothario

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