GRRRL GANG - Spunky! LP

Label: Trapped Animal

Indonesian trio Grrrl Gang build on their considerable worldwide buzz with Spunky!, their full-length debut album. Released on 27 September 2023 by Green Island Music in partnership with exclusive licensees Kill Rock Stars (for North and South America), Trapped Animal Records (UK and EU) and Big Romantic Records (Japan and Taiwan), the album is preceded by its title track and first single which drops on May 31.

Spunky! arrives following some major life changes for Angeeta Sentana (vocals, guitar), Akbar Rumandung (bass, vocals) and Edo Alventa (guitar, vocals), including a switch in locale from Yogyakarta, the city where they formed the band while still in college. “This is Grrrl Gang’s first release after we graduated and got day jobs that made us have to move to Jakarta, which is undeniably 180 degrees compared to Yogya,” says Rumandung. “But moving to Jakarta enabled us to work with Lafa on Spunky! from start to finish.”

Overall, Spunky! is the sound of a band not content to rest on its laurels, despite gathering an impressive list of achievements since Grrrl Gang first got together in 2016 and proceeded to take the local, regional, and international indie scenes by storm, leading to a prestigious performance slot on the pandemic-induced online edition of SXSW 2021 and an A- review that esteemed music critic Robert Christgau bestowed upon Here to Stay!, the 2020 compilation of their early singles. According to Rumandung, “We want this album to show that we’ve changed, that Grrrl Gang is a band that isn’t stuck in one place and that we always have the urge to discover new things.”

In other words, Spunky! proves that Grrrl Gang are – to borrow a familiar phrase – here to stay.