Album Review: Lambrini Girls - 'Who Let The Dogs Out'
Unapologetic punk for the modern world, Lambrini Girls’ debut album dives into modern Britain with a fiery sting.
The Brighton based duo has reached a new height this last year with their intense performances throughout the year, with a combination of blunt-force punk, scathing social commentary and barbed humour which has earned them comparisons to the likes of Bikini Kill and has seen them support Iggy Pop.
Their last release was in 2023, a six-track EP named You’re Welcome, which propelled the duo into the forefront of modern punk, earning them the Rising Star nomination by Rolling Stone, a Kerrang! Cover feature with Sleater-Kinney and an unforgettable performance at Glastonbury
Who Let The Dogs Out takes them into uncharted territories, an album written in two short bursts between their unrelenting tour schedule, making for a raw distillation of what makes this group so special.
They got the bones of it down in the first session, keeping a routine of waking up, going for a run, writing until 7PM, then cooking and eating dinner together before going to bed and doing it all over again.
The second was arguably more chaotic: “We had something like 48 beers, a bottle of vodka, six bottles of wine, two bottles of Lambrini, rum and tequila…” singer and guitarist Phoebe Lunny recalls.
“During the first session we ran out of booze, which is obviously illegal, so for the second we did a big shop and stocked up. We somehow managed to drink through all of that in a week.”
Recorded with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox and mixed by Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar/ Battles/ Model/Actriz), this record displays a massive modern punk sound touching on the underlying issues facing Britain and the world, compacted into short arrangements but hitting at full speed.
The record kicks off with “Bad Apple”, where Lunny belts out an intense vocal display touching on “Fatal harm to kids unarmed, Defended on the news”, stressing that it is “Not just bad apples, It’s the whole rotten tree”.
Apart from the fervent vocals, the rhythm in this burns bright throughout with some powerful high-paced drums and the fuzziest of bass tones making for a warm and colourful mix that will make you want to jump around anywhere you listen to it.
Instrumentally, the album takes a lot of twists and turns, going from these drum-driven songs where the rhythm section is the main force, to guitar based arrangements which show off some gnarly tones and immaculate production on songs such as “Company Culture”.
On “Big Dick Energy” Lunny takes on toxic masculinity with some lyrics that although aren’t very subtle about their meaning, still hit you hard, a common affair for the likes of Lambrini Girls and their relentless punk attitude.
They touch on many more key issues facing modern society throughout the album, such as homophobia on “No Homo”, which also displays some celestial guitar tones which sound like something straight out of some classic punk records.
On “You’re Not From Around Here”, they tackle the effects of gentrification that has become so common in towns such as Brighton: “Church becomes a coffee shop, Businesses an office block, Keep the crime rate low and the rent price up”.
Lunny continues to take on nepotism in the music industry in “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby”, the dangerous downsides in modern love in “Love”, and slut-shaming culture in “Cuntology 101” which is one of the band's most synthy songs to date, an unseen side of Lambrini Girls until today.
If you are yet to catch them live, now is the time to book a ticket, as they take off on a short UK tour in January before a European tour the next month. But if you can’t afford to, fear not, as Who Let The Dogs Out will always leave that raw punk energy wherever you choose to listen to it.
Words by Jay Cohen
