With an upcoming date at the Lexington and a debut album on the album, anticipation is building around this punky duo, says Alex Bellotti.

If you haven’t heard the music of Girlpool, there’s little chance you’ll be able to avoid it if you’re anywhere near the Lexington a week on Monday.

This DIY punk duo – comprised of guitarist Cleo Tucker and bassist Harmony Tividad – have been making waves with a sound that sees them screeching at the top of their voices about boys, girls and other facets of teenage American life.

It’s an acquired taste, but there’s plenty of charm to their brash, open style. On their eponymous EP, arguably the catchiest song, Jane, has a Beat Happening-esque twang to its melody, while the record’s closer lilts along lazily until it sucker punches you with a chorus line that sings, ‘Eat me out to American Beauty.’

“I think what for me was most empowering about DIY was the ethos of it,” says Tividad, on the phone from their studio in Philadelphia. “You can do things your own way and create a world that’s healthy for you to be a part of creatively. I could be a part of something bigger and volunteer my time to better understand something.

“Of course the music and art that comes out of it is really special, but really I think it’s the ethos that really changed who I was.”

Having first met at iconic Los Angeles music venue The Smell, Tucker and Tividad are “insanely close”. With the release of their full length debut on the horizon however, it’s a busy time and as such they don’t seem quite as free and conversational as their music might suggest. In fairness, their maturity makes it easy to forget that both girls are still “numerically on the cutting edge” of teenagehood and that they have very quickly had to make sense of being thrust into the public eye.

Tucker explains: “Part of the beauty of music is how it can be something different for everybody, but also partially what’s frustrating for any artist is interpretation. You want your art to be pure to your mind and your perception of what it is, but the world will always convolute it because art is a subjective experience.”

It seems a concept Girlpool are still trying to make sense of – while it’s one thing to know, it’s another to live. With their impending debut featuring a whole new collection of songs though, inspiration seems to be coming as easily as ever and it’s just screaming to be heard.

Girlpool play the Lexington on February 16. Visit thelexington.co.uk