<\/p>\n\n
The world has gotten worse.<\/p>\n\n
We’re not the ones saying that.<\/p>\n\n
That’s what the Lambrini Girls<\/strong> say.<\/p>\n\n And his response wasn’t to write an album to reassure us.<\/p>\n\n It just made it even more awkward.<\/p>\n\n It’s called No Refunds<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n It will be released on January 15, 2027, via City Slang<\/strong>, will feature eleven songs, and will be the second album by Phoebe Lunny and Selin Macieira-Bo\u015fgelmez<\/strong>, just two years after *Who Let The Dogs Out*<\/em> turned them into one of the most exciting phenomena in the new British punk scene. <\/p>\n\n The first warning had come with \u201cCult of Celebrity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Now we have another one.<\/p>\n\n It’s called:<\/p>\n\n \u201cBang Bang Bang.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And it makes exactly the noise it promises.<\/p>\n\n Two minutes and twenty-two seconds.<\/p>\n\n They don’t need much more than that.<\/p>\n\n \u201cBang Bang Bang\u201d starts off as a restrained burst of energy and ends up practically setting the room on fire.<\/p>\n\n Low-angle shot.<\/p>\n\n Aggressive guitars.<\/p>\n\n Percussion.<\/p>\n\n Distortion.<\/p>\n\n An album that begins to lean toward industrial punk<\/strong> without losing the raw energy that made Lambrini Girls such a hard-to-ignore band.<\/p>\n\n The video, directed by Harv Frost<\/strong>, doesn’t offer much breathing room either.<\/p>\n\n A dark room.<\/p>\n\n Flashes of light.<\/p>\n\n Movement.<\/p>\n\n Glasses that end up shattered.<\/p>\n\n Chaos.<\/p>\n\n The feeling of watching something that could spiral out of control at any moment.<\/p>\n\n And then there’s Phoebe Lunny.<\/p>\n\n According to the singer herself, the song tells the story of a man who has been revered both as an almost messianic figure and as the devil himself. Pitchfork includes that description in its preview of the new album. <\/p>\n\n They don’t explain much more than that.<\/p>\n\n It probably isn’t necessary either.<\/p>\n\n Lambrini Girls were formed in Brighton<\/strong> and are currently a duo consisting of:<\/p>\n\n Phoebe Lunny \u2014 vocals and guitar.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Selin Macieira-Bo\u015fgelmez \u2014 bass.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Their sound draws on elements of riot grrrl, punk, noise, grunge, and post-punk, with influences they themselves have cited ranging from Bikini Kill and Le Tigre to Savages<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n But to dismiss them as \u201cjust another punk band from Brighton\u201d would be to miss out on practically the entire story.<\/p>\n\n Because the Lambrini Girls realized something fundamental very early on:<\/p>\n\n Anger works much better when you also know how to make people laugh.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n His songs may address misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, violence, power, or inequality.<\/p>\n\n But there’s always one phrase that pops up in the middle.<\/p>\n\n A provocation.<\/p>\n\n An awkward joke.<\/p>\n\n That’s outrageous.<\/p>\n\n And then they hit you again.<\/p>\n\n Their first album was released on January 10, 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n Title:<\/p>\n\n Who Let the Dogs Out<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The album turned everything the Lambrini Girls had built on small stages into something much bigger.<\/p>\n\n And something happened that doesn’t always happen with the most abrasive punk:<\/p>\n\n made the list.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The album reached No. 16 on the Official UK Albums Chart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n But it also reached No. 1 on the UK Rock & Metal chart<\/strong>, No. 2 on the<\/strong> independent albums chart, and No. 3 on the Scottish sales chart. <\/p>\n\n It wasn’t just hype surrounding an up-and-coming band.<\/p>\n\n There was an audience.<\/p>\n\n A lot.<\/p>\n\n And then the acceleration began.<\/p>\n\n Tours.<\/p>\n\n Festivals.<\/p>\n\n Interviews.<\/p>\n\n More concerts.<\/p>\n\n More airports.<\/p>\n\n More kilometers.<\/p>\n\n Glastonbury.<\/p>\n\n Reading & Leeds.<\/p>\n\n Roskilde.<\/p>\n\n Rock Werchter.<\/p>\n\n Riot Fest.<\/p>\n\n Primavera Sound.<\/p>\n\n Next up would be Bonnaroo, Pukkelpop, Lowlands, Rock en Seine, \u00d8ya, Way Out West, and Flow.<\/p>\n\n Their London concerts gradually expanded from Scala to Electric Brixton and then to the Kentish Town Forum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n The November 2025 tour of the United Kingdom was sold out.<\/p>\n\n The underground punk scene was beginning to take on a considerably larger scale.<\/p>\n\n And then my body said, \u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n This is probably the most important part for understanding ” No Refunds<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n Because a second album isn’t just the result of success.<\/p>\n\n It comes after the price they paid for it.<\/p>\n\n Selin Macieira-Bo\u015fgelmez temporarily stepped away from touring in late 2025 after a period of extreme exhaustion.<\/strong> The musician herself has spoken publicly about a manic episode related to her bipolar disorder. <\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n Meanwhile, Phoebe Lunny suffered a brain injury during the group’s first Australian tour<\/strong> and continued to perform for part of that time. <\/p>\n\n These are health issues that they themselves have made public and that help explain the context of the album, but they don’t need to be turned into a spectacle.<\/p>\n\n What’s important is what happened next.<\/p>\n\n They stopped.<\/p>\n\n They recovered.<\/p>\n\n And they went back to writing.<\/p>\n\n But they weren’t exactly the same people who had recorded the first album anymore.<\/p>\n\n The title is wonderful.<\/p>\n\n No Refunds<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n No refunds.<\/p>\n\n You can’t return it.<\/p>\n\n You can’t change the world just because you don’t like the one you’ve been given.<\/p>\n\n And Lambrini Girls doesn’t seem interested in offering a comfortable version of it either.<\/p>\n\n The label itself describes the album as a darker and more urgent<\/strong> work, written for a planet that, in the duo\u2019s words, \u201chas gotten even worse.\u201d <\/p>\n\n The topics?<\/p>\n\n This is where it gets interesting.<\/p>\n\n Lambrini Girls hasn’t exactly chosen minor issues.<\/p>\n\n No Refunds<\/strong><\/em> addresses artificial intelligence, fascism, violence, reproductive rights, celebrity culture, and the rise of the so-called ” manosphere<\/strong>,” as well as contemporary political conflicts and violence. <\/p>\n\n But musically, there’s also a change.<\/p>\n\n Industrial punk.<\/p>\n\n Angular lower legs.<\/p>\n\n Almost pop moments.<\/p>\n\n Noise.<\/p>\n\n And something that might be even more surprising:<\/p>\n\n vulnerability.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Because after everything that’s happened over the past two years, an album built entirely around screaming at the world probably would have told only half the story.<\/p>\n\n You don’t have to listen to all eleven songs just yet to understand what they’re getting at.<\/p>\n\n No Refunds<\/strong><\/em> will include:<\/p>\n\n This is the official tracklist released by the band. <\/p>\n\n Just by reading it, we already have practically a map of 2026.<\/p>\n\n Power.<\/p>\n\n Celebrity.<\/p>\n\n Masculinity.<\/p>\n\n Reproductive rights.<\/p>\n\n Gaza.<\/p>\n\n Artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n Internet.<\/p>\n\n And probably a pretty mean streak.<\/p>\n\n Before \u201cBang Bang Bang,\u201d there was:<\/p>\n\n \u201cCult of Celebrity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And the contradiction was deliberate.<\/p>\n\n A song that challenges our obsession with turning people into cultural products, presented through one of the most immediate and accessible tracks the Lambrini Girls had recorded up to that point.<\/p>\n\n That tension seems essential to understanding the new album.<\/p>\n\n Lambrini Girls wants to expand its sound.<\/p>\n\n But don’t tone down the rhetoric.<\/p>\n\n There may be a melody.<\/p>\n\n There may be some pop-inspired elements.<\/p>\n\n There might be some humor.<\/p>\n\n But underneath it all, the same question remains:<\/p>\n\n What the heck are we doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n There’s a song called:<\/p>\n\n \u201cIs This AI?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n We don’t know yet exactly what the lyrics will be about, so I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions before listening to them.<\/p>\n\n But his presence is inevitably intriguing.<\/p>\n\n Because punk has always rebelled against what it perceives as power structures, homogenization, or loss of identity.<\/p>\n\n In 1977, it could have been the music industry.<\/p>\n\n In 2027, it could also be an algorithm.<\/p>\n\n The mere fact that AI and punk now share an album’s tracklist<\/strong> says a lot about how much the world\u2014the very world that the genre seeks to challenge\u2014has changed.<\/p>\n\n This is the question I find most interesting about the Lambrini Girls.<\/p>\n\n Punk is now half a century old.<\/p>\n\n Their symbols are on T-shirts.<\/p>\n\n His classic albums are sold at major retailers.<\/p>\n\n The Sex Pistols are featured in documentaries and exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n The language of rebellion can also become a product.<\/p>\n\n So how do you pull off punk without ending up looking like you’re dressed up in a 1977 costume?<\/p>\n\n Lambrini Girls seems to have found a fairly simple answer:<\/p>\n\n talking about 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Don’t try to recreate the problems of fifty years ago.<\/p>\n\n Talking about our own people.<\/p>\n\n Algorithms.<\/p>\n\n Manosphere.<\/p>\n\n AI.<\/p>\n\n Reproductive rights.<\/p>\n\n War.<\/p>\n\n Celebrity.<\/p>\n\n Internet.<\/p>\n\n Exhaustion.<\/p>\n\n Mental health.<\/p>\n\n Polarization.<\/p>\n\n That makes *No Refunds*<\/em> potentially much more interesting than just an exercise in punk nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n There is also a beautiful symbolic connection.<\/p>\n\n Kathleen Hanna<\/strong>, a key figure in Bikini Kill and the riot grrrl movement, has publicly expressed her admiration for Lambrini Girls.<\/p>\n\n Iggy Pop<\/strong> and Sleater-Kinney<\/strong> have done the same.<\/p>\n\n And the duo has shared the stage with bands like IDLES and Amyl and the Sniffers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n It’s almost a generational divide.<\/p>\n\n Iggy.<\/p>\n\n Bikini Kill.<\/p>\n\n Sleater-Kinney.<\/p>\n\n IDLES.<\/p>\n\n Amyl and the Sniffers.<\/p>\n\n Lambrini Girls.<\/p>\n\n Not because all those bands sound the same.<\/p>\n\n But rather because they share a much more important idea:<\/p>\n\n A rock concert can still be an uncomfortable place.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And perhaps that is its greatest strength.<\/p>\n\n There are songs meant to be listened to while you’re doing something else.<\/p>\n\n \u201cBang Bang Bang\u201d seems designed to prevent that.<\/p>\n\n Come in.<\/p>\n\n Hit it.<\/p>\n\n It makes noise.<\/p>\n\n It provokes.<\/p>\n\n And it disappears in 2 minutes and 22 seconds<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n It doesn’t need much more than that.<\/p>\n\n Because ” No Refunds<\/em> ” is still pending.<\/p>\n\n Their debut album proved that a band could turn anger, dark humor, and abrasive guitars into an unexpected Top 20 hit in the UK.<\/p>\n\n Then came the festivals.<\/p>\n\n The tours.<\/p>\n\n Airports.<\/p>\n\n Burnout.<\/p>\n\n Injuries.<\/p>\n\n And finally, the need to rebuild oneself.<\/p>\n\n They’re coming back now.<\/p>\n\n But not to repeat ” Who Let the Dogs Out<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n They’re back with a darker album.<\/p>\n\n More industrial.<\/p>\n\n More vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n And apparently quite a bit angrier.<\/p>\n\n It’s called No Refunds<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n January 15, 2027<\/strong>, is coming.<\/p>\n\n And if Lambrini Girls is right and the world really has gotten worse…<\/p>\n\n It seems they’ve decided to do the exact opposite of turning down the volume.<\/p>\n\n Bang.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Bang.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Bang.<\/strong><\/p>\n\nFirst, listen to \u201cBang Bang Bang\u201d<\/h2>\n\n
If you haven’t heard of Lambrini Girls yet, now’s the time<\/h2>\n\n
“Who Let The Dogs Out<\/em> ” Turned Noise Into a Hit<\/h2>\n\n
From Small Clubs to Glastonbury<\/h2>\n\n
Success almost broke them<\/h2>\n\n
No Refunds<\/em>: No refunds<\/h2>\n\n
Artificial Intelligence, Fascism, Abortion, Gaza, and the Manosphere<\/h2>\n\n
The track list says a lot on its own<\/h2>\n\n
\n
\u201cCult of Celebrity\u201d had already given the first clue<\/h2>\n\n
And then artificial intelligence comes into the picture<\/h2>\n\n
Can punk still be dangerous in 2026?<\/h2>\n\n
Kathleen Hanna understands perfectly what they’re doing<\/h2>\n\n
“Bang Bang Bang” doesn’t want you to like it<\/h2>\n\n
Lambrini Girls are back just when they’re at their most uncomfortable<\/h2>\n\n
\n\n<\/h1>\n\n