“We are not Bikini Kill and we are not your Nan” is the kind of quick quote that I like. Succinct, funny and a superior way to self-describe, it crosses out two squares on your musical expectations Bingo card and makes a mockery of the absolute bobbins I usually put up with from PR noobs when reviewing albums.
Brighton’s Lambrini Girls deliver on their promise in fine style as they rampage across this debut, chucking out anarcho-punk firebombs, digging out every dickhead in the room and gutting everything from class elitism to the boys in blue. And they do all this with the kind of apoplectic fury that sounds like you’re standing underneath a Chinook.
For instance, opening salvo ‘Bad Apple’ tears the local constabulary a new one with spat lines like “Hang the pigs/ That hunt your daughters/ Stop and search/ Lambs to the slaughter”, showing zero fear and putting other bands’ craven attempts at social commentary firmly in the corner. Built on a riff that really should be banged up in prison to protect the public, Phoebe Lunny’s excoriating vocal dons the black cap and brings down the gavel on any lingering doubt on where this record is headed.
‘Big Dick Energy’ hilariously shreds your common or beer garden tosspot – “stop telling me how much you lift” – making Riot Grrrl sound like Perry Como in the process. Cue every gym bunny across the land staining their whey protein powder with salt tears. Glorious.
That’s not to say the music is any kind of vapid mass takedown, existing only to take the piss. The message behind the rage is real and sorely needed. Gentrification gets the full treatment on ‘You’re Not From Around Here’ – “Town hall becomes a brewery/ Furthering disparity/ Drowning out sense of what was community” – office misogyny gets bulleted on’ Company Culture’ – “Michael, I don’t want to suck you off on my lunch break”. Oh, have they got your attention now? Good.
You might think Idles have already got the ground covered with the “irate but socially conscious punk sound”, but it’s smarter than that. Why? Cos it is. Bottom line – Lambrini Girls aren’t like other bands. They’re throwing sticks of dynamite like a fully pumped Luke Littler at Ally Pally. And they’re definitely not your Nan.
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