2015 was a good year for Sheer Mag. The Philadelphia punk outfit with cock-rock swagger has seen their stock rise to Coachella proportions, and after two EPs, they’ve returned in 2016 with a powerful new track. Self-recorded, “Can’t Stop Fighting” is similar in vein to their prior releases, with Christina Halladay’s demanding, anthemic vocals leading the fray, but the lyrics offer a peak through another woman’s eyes. Specifically, one Norma Ledezma Ortega, the mother of Paloma Angelica Escobar Ledezma who disappeared on March 2, 2002. The opening stanza paraphrases her testimony as featured in the book, Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Americas: “Paloma walks home at night from the maquiladora / 8 days later, no one has saw her / sometimes she worked late / don’t that tell you just whats at stake?”
Putting a true story behind the rage is a powerful way to capture a listener’s attention, and by the time Halladay brings the song full circle with “We’re striking back baby, and you can find me in the vanguard” it carries a danceable weight not unlike that of another oddly placed Coachella singer, Dennis Lyxzen.
You can stream “Can’t Stop Fighting” below. And scroll below for a full transcript of the lyrics.
Paloma walks home at night from the maquiladora
8 days later, no one has saw her
sometimes she worked late
don’t that tell you just whats at stake?we can’t stop fighting
at home, my sister- she told me a story
at the end, there’s no Grace or glory
just the trial of a man
with no motive for where he standsall my life i’ve felt the eye of the catcall
we’re striking back baby, and you can find me in the vanguard
you say you don’t understand
i can see the blood, it’s on your hands
