Goat Girl with Honey Hahs at The Windmill, Brixton, for Independent Venue Week – review

Goat Girl pack a lyrical punch with a swaggering rock n roll demeanour that's hard to resist

Goat Girl performing a visceral set at The Windmill in Brixton (Holly Whitaker)

The hype surrounding south London four-piece Goat Girl is inescapable.

Signed to Rough Trade after just one single that was trending on Twitter before it had even been released (no mean feat for a band with little online presence), the teen quartet have been held up as the leaders of a new guitar movement in the capital.

Even the compere at this Independent Venue Week showcase is getting carried away. “Here is the best band in the world,” he exclaims by way of introduction.

But then getting swept up in Goat Girl’s swaggering rock and roll is difficult to resist. Goat Girl have their finger on the pulse of rock’s primal thrill, merging the sound of 60’s garage bands, The Cramps-like gothic rockabilly, country blues and peak-era Pixies.

A heaving Windmill can feel it: when the murky “No Heart” erupts five songs in, a violent mosh pit develops; by the time the dark ferocity of “You Da Man” collapses in on itself, the crowd have become feral.

Singer Lottie has a listless vocal style that adds an air of detached cool, but Goat Girl pack a lyrical punch: “How can an entire nation be so f****** thick?” she snarls on the twang-blues, state-of-the-nation address “Scum”, one of two recorded tracks in a nine-song set.

The other, “County Sleaze”, with its low rumbling bass and visceral riff, finishes the show in raw and raucous style. Yet for Goat Girl, this is only the beginning.

Brand new Rough Trade signings Honey Hahs, three sisters from Peckham, are so young they weren’t allowed into the venue until they were due onstage (their dad set up their equipment) but their earlier set, full of sweet ditties and beautiful harmonies, belied their youth.

Aged 15, 11 and 9, to be expected they’re a little rough around the edges, but songs like “Forever” already point towards a big future.