# Lex Walton
**Lex Walton** is a Brooklyn-based American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who works in scrappy DIY punk and indie rock. She is a transgender woman and, according to Pitchfork critic Hannah Jocelyn, is ubiquitous within a certain Brooklyn trans scene: besides her solo catalog, she plays bass in the band Prairie Princess and has appeared in the lo-fi trans anthology series *[Castration Movie](https://www.edgepedia.org/castration-movie)*.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) Her Sub Pop debut album, *Ultimate Love Forever*, was released on August 26, 2026.[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Based in | Brooklyn, New York; active in the city's trans music scene[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) |
| Label debut | *Ultimate Love Forever*, Sub Pop, released August 26, 2026; 7 tracks in about 20 minutes[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/) |
| Production | Co-produced by Walton and Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade; Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire played strings on two songs[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/) • [1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) |
| Other work | Bassist in Prairie Princess; appeared in the anthology series *Castration Movie*; helped stage Emerson Borakove's *Airy Foist* at a Geese set[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) |
| Critical reception | Pitchfork score 8.3; The Fire Note rated it 4.5 out of 5[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) • [2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/) |
## Career before the label debut
Walton built her catalog outside the label system. A visit to her Bandcamp page shows a large body of home-recorded albums and EPs, ranging from keyboard demos to 12-minute blown-out opuses.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) • [2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/) Jocelyn compares her trajectory to that of [Will Toledo](https://www.edgepedia.org/will-toledo)'s pre-Matador releases as [Car Seat Headrest](https://www.edgepedia.org/car-seat-headrest), while noting that Walton's output is more confrontational.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/)
Her songwriting is dense with references and deliberately off-putting titles, such as "In This House, We Don't Call the Cops; We Call Chosen Family" and "Preteen on Omegle Blues"; on a single EP she references the cult director [Vincent Gallo](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-gallo) (as "Vinny Gallo") and [Owl City](https://www.edgepedia.org/owl-city)'s 2009 hit "Fireflies".[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) Jocelyn describes much of this earlier music as intentionally incomprehensible, with hyperlexic lyrics that kept even sympathetic listeners at arm's length, and reads the wordiness as armor against a world that surveils trans people's lives.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/)
## Ultimate Love Forever
*Ultimate Love Forever* was surprise-released ahead of its scheduled attention cycle and marks a shift in scale: with a co-producer in Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and a label behind it, the record adds production value that Jocelyn says uncovers the earnestness that was always present.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) The Fire Note describes the sound as lean, scruffy garage rock with indie post-punk cool, pounding rhythms, loud guitars, and quiet-loud switches, noting an early Beck-like charge and a downtown edge consistent with Walton's cited early influences [Suicide](https://www.edgepedia.org/suicide-band) and [Alan Vega](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-vega).[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/)
The album's themes center on the encroachment of fascism and the failure of artists to respond to the moment.[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/) "Yr Op-Ed Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore", a reference to [John Prine](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-prine), rails against publications that moved the goalposts on acceptable bigotry; Walton said on the [Chapo Trap House](https://www.edgepedia.org/chapo-trap-house) podcast that the song is partially aimed at journalist Jesse Singal, whose 2018 Atlantic story on transgender youth ran under a cover carrying the headline "We're Not Prepared for the Next Pandemic".[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) The closing track, "Ultimate Love 4Ever", opens with an almost off-Broadway-style dialogue and states the record's core longing in lines such as "I want an island of everyone I've ever loved".[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/)
## Reception
Pitchfork scored the album 8.3, with Jocelyn calling it a snapshot of being alive at a specific point in time for trans listeners and for anyone in the United States.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/) The Fire Note gave it 4.5 out of 5, arguing that the record deserves to be heard and discussed as a great indie rock album on its own terms rather than through the fact that Walton is a transgender woman.[2](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/)
## References
1. [Hannah Jocelyn (2026). Lex Walton: Ultimate Love Forever Album Review. Pitchfork.](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever/)
2. [Lena Bishop (2026). Lex Walton: ULTIMATE LOVE FOREVER [Album Review]. The Fire Note.](https://thefirenote.com/reviews/lex-walton-ultimate-love-forever-album-review/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Indie and alternative pop, 2010s to present › Indie rock and alternative pop artists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license