The debut album from Depression Breakfast is a full-on blast of punk rock energy with every song exploding with unbridled energy before (somewhat quickly) wrapping up. This is par for the course with Punk Rock but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t leave you seething with energy.
Fortunately, it serves as a vessel for the disenfranchised to rally against The Establishment and The Patriarchy. The final track “Believe Me (I’m Not Lying)” encapsulates this message pretty aptly by vocalizing the disillusionment that women must undergo to convince someone that they’ve been abused, assaulted or manipulated. “My body is not my own” and “Who would believe me?” rings out repeatedly from the narrator as a disgusted but all-too-familiar inquiry.
“There’s No D in Privilege” is the shortest track on the album, clocking in at just 49 seconds, but manages to cover toxic masculinity and the systematic changes required to disrupt it. “Professional” clenches through the refrain of “Fuck You, Pay Me” as a middle finger to the stinging income imbalance felt by women (and the fashion requirements that often come with it).
Just Because I’m a Womxn continues the punk rock tradition of expelling demons politically and socially but it’s a damn shame it has to exist at all. On one hand, it’s a cathartic record to hear these issues spoken to so directly. On the other hand, it absolutely sucks that we still live in a world where these things even need to be written about. Fortunately, silence is not the answer and Depression Breakfast is proof of that.