Brighton based Lambrini Girls offer a raucous punk debut which musically isn’t anything new, but it certainly attempts to get in your face. I like that.
It’s not my favourite vial of post punk in the world. That shouting-in-a-southern-accent-core, which has entered the alt indie sphere in recent years, can rub me up the wrong way. Despite the big licks of this genre such as Idles and Soft Play producing some decent to good albums, it’s not a sound with much room to expand or fully titillate.
Having said that, does it really need to have this “expansive” sound? No. Punk can often be best enjoyed direct, unfiltered and scathing in lyrical content. Here though it just feels a bit flaccid.
The fuzzy 3 chord guitar work and driving snare-tom marches do jolt my head back and forth like good punk tends to do, but the majority of the tracks here fail to really dig their fingers in. The cleanliness of Lunny’s vocal production in particular takes away from the lyricism appropriate for such an aesthetic Lambrini Girls want to present.
Michael, I don’t want to suck you off on my lunch break
(from track 2, “Company Culture”)
That’s not to say there aren’t some tunes to save to that morning commute playlist though. Highlights include “Bad Apple”, “Company Culture” and “Big Dick Energy”, containing lyrics of harassment in the workplace, masculinity and a palpable disdain for those things. “No Homo” follows this blueprint and makes for another hilarious title, up there with the album’s closer, “Cuntology 101”.
The problem with this record however is the cookie cutter fashion of the songs. There’s not much variation and it can get boring quite quickly.
When I have the ability to listen to really angry and less sanitised songs of socio-political woe and everyday strife – from the likes of Chat Pile with ‘God’s Country’ for example – ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ doesn’t really scratch that itch in the same way.
I find the lyrics and delivery from Lambrini Girls a little cringe at times too. There’s something about it that feels fake or exaggerated. I appreciate the sentiment of songs like “You’re Not From Round Here”, with its comments on gentrification and minimum wage, but I do think, kinell heard this before. This rings true for the 17 second, frankly unnecessary interlude “Scarcity Is Fake (Communist Propaganda)” too. Why so ham-fisted?
Hugo sings about
Minimum wage
Scrubbing out oil stains
From Burger King
(from track 8, “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby”)
I need the scuzz, the greasy foam. The murky details of these topics. Again, this is something Chat Pile – even if they do lean into a more noise rock lane – and Stevenage’s finest, Bad Breeding, tend to inflict consistently. This lyrical simplicity or unoriginality therefore, presents ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ as an album lacking a truly shocking or out-there quality to set itself apart from the 442, modern and mainstream UK post-punk. Thank fuck it’s a short album then.
Unlike this review, I give them credit for sounding enthusiastic and I do enjoy light sprinkles of experimentation, but I’m ultimately left wanting a lot more. It’s a solid effort but I likely won’t be coming back for a full viewing. Maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m just a cunt!? Answers on a postcard.
Kind Regards,
The Wavertree Savage
Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out – 10 January 2025 (City Slang)
Girls – Cuntology 101 (Official Video)
Liverpool born music writer with passion for punk and Everton FC
