Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira are furious. Livid with the rapist cops, sleazy men, gentrifying landlords, nepo babies and, to be fair, a significant chunk of mainstream society.
The Lambrini Girls’ eminently quotable debut album, Who Let the Dogs Out, has all of these people, and a good deal more in its crosshairs and doesn’t hold back with putting the boot in. Their fiery and indignant howls of righteous anger, such as “Officer, what seems to be the problem? Or can we only know post-mortem?” on “Bad Apple” and “Michael, I don’t want to suck you off in my lunchbreak” on “Company Culture” give a less than subtle taste of their opinions but all the 11 songs have plenty to say about the shortcomings of the modern world. And it’s unlikely that you’ll be hearing any of them on daytime radio any time soon – for obvious reasons.
It's relentless stuff, with shouty vocals and speedy, basic musicianship, but Who Let the Dogs Out is also a serious shot in the arm after all that Christmas “good will to all mankind” stuff. “No Homo” is a lesbian-curious mosh pit anthem that comes on like an update of Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl”, while the brief “Scarcity Is Fake” emphatically gives the middle finger to capitalism. However, it’s the especially daytime radio unfriendly electropunk of “Cuntology 101” that really gets it on, bringing the album to a conclusion with cries of “C-U-N-T, I’m going to do what’s best for me”.
It's good to hear bands who have plenty to say about the state of society without being po-faced, like Kneecap, Amyl and the Sniffers and Bob Vylan, getting some kind of attention at present and Lambrini Girls fit snugly among them. It just has to be hoped that they can make some kind of impact before attentions inevitably wander elsewhere.
