Lambrini Girls
Who Let the Dogs Out
CITY SLANG
Lambrini is a brand of sparkling pear cider sold as a cheap alternative to prosecco or champagne which, In the UK, is often mockingly associated with working class identity. Thus, Brighton punks Lambrini Girls’ use of the name seems to be an attempt at both drawing tonal parallels with chaotic drunken carnage and repurposing the beverage’s outdated connotations, democratizing and reframing something that was long associated with chavs—a derogatory British term for poor people.
These two polarities sum up the riotously fun yet deadly serious axis that Lambrini Girls walk. To call the duo “outspoken” would be a disservice. It implies that vocalist/guitarist Phoebe Lunny and bassist Lilly Macieira’s support of humanist causes like trans rights and a free Palestine are somehow shocking or controversial. Across the 11 fiery tracks on their debut Who Let the Dogs Out, the duo palpably oozes red-hot anger. Unlike all too many of the last decade’s UK-spawned post-punk and indie bands, Lambrini Girls revel in setting their crosshairs on an array of contemporary social ills. They also put their money where their mouth is, pulling out of a festival due to its IDF-backing sponsors and offering to fight “any TERF, any day, in person.”
As heard on their early EPs, the incendiary energy with which Lambrini Girls come for their targets is an exhilarating spectacle. The IDLES-channeling pit-starter “Company Culture” tackles sexual harassment in the workplace, while the self-explanatory “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby” skewers the “baronesses” and “dads-who-work-for-Sony” types that are commonplace in the music industry. The brilliantly titled closer “Cuntology 101” is an anthem of self-betterment that cleverly repurposes the titular vulgarity, declaring “autistic meltdowns” and “being a massive whore” to be admirably, wholesomely “cunty.”
Underpinning these funny, feral, and ferocious lyrics is a body of gloriously energetic indie-punk. The best of these instrumentals see Lambrini Girls aim for heavy dissonance. Opener “Bad Apple” is a noise-rock bass-and-drums rager that’s menacing and danceable. “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby” brings in some angular guitar dissonance, while “Special, Different” is built around a ruthless downtuned bass riff—each track individually highlighting the abrasive production work of Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox. If there’s a mild criticism of Who Let the Dogs Out it’s that the music isn’t always as grippingly fresh as the lyrics. But this is only the band’s first full-length (one that they apparently wrote in just 12 days), and tracks like “Bad Apple” and the synth-punk closer prove that Lunny and Macieira possess sharp, singular musical ideas beyond their familiar brand of lean and undeniably fun aggro-punk.
The album equivalent of an improvised explosive device, this is music that confronts contemporary concerns with all the subtlety of a nail bomb. Lambrini Girls’ rage reflects the increasingly common feeling that the ills of our world can no longer be addressed by nuance or calm debate. Sometimes the only thing left to do is lunge for the throat, which Who Let the Dogs Out does with thrilling élan.
