The Bobby Lees: New Self
(Epitaph)
LP | CD | DL
Released 12th June, 2026
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
After announcing an indefinite hiatus, burnt out by the battering of the music industry, The Bobby Lees return with an album of pure defiance. It hits hard…exactly where and how it should.
It felt like no sooner had The Bobby Lees hit our LTW radar with their third album Bellevue, than the band called an indefinite hiatus, a time out. Ged Babey waxed lyrical about the album; “the most inspirational cult-level, gut-instinct, kick-ass band,” he said. But he also inadvertently touched on the exact reason for that hiatus.“I fear that they may go up a level, onto the business treadmill and tear themselves apart.”It was the business side of show that had kicked the band to the curb. Endless touring, pushing promotion, driving to step things up to a higher gear, while the industry’s reluctance to tackle the financial shitstorm caused by the abusive practices of the streaming giants, the band, of course, calling out Spotify, in the end, was just too much. Drained, they stepped aside.
But help can often come from the most unexpected places. In stepped Jason Momoa. Anyone who has seen his HBO show On The Roam will know that he enthusiastically pours his support into the things he loves, shining a spotlight on the artists he feels inspired by. And so The Bobby Lees, who feature in the second season, had been offered the lifeline they so needed to keep going. But don’t think that the album has become a glowing adoration of everyone’s favourite sea-bound hero. The scars of exploitation run deep, and on New Self they surface often.
The desire to make a success of oneself, coupled with the belief by those around that you spin gold, causes the ever-growing pressure cooker inside to explode when there is no release. More than any other song on the album, it is probably Napoleon on which frontwoman Sam Quartin lays it at its most bare and clear.
My tank is running real low cos I just keep on getting fucked
I got all these people around, they say, “You got what it takes, you’re gonna make it, you’re a real star”
Well, I’ve been hearing this shit for so long, and nothing happens
I can’t take it anymore
Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m the saboteur
But I’ve been on the ground this whole time, and my purpose has always been pure
Her frustration is wound up in the same urgent punk blasts that captured us a few years ago. The stabbing bass and spit-rhythm drums, the guitar that drops in and out, Quartin’s vocals that walk a line between defiant and pleading, create an air of distress, a rising tension that takes hold. It sets everything up for the line that sums up the situation of many bands these days:
Like a dumb rat, I choke on the smoke of the industry trap till I am left on the floor
I am dead and depleted, no longer able to fight
But beware, because when you have pushed someone’s back against the wall, their only option is to fight. And fight is exactly what the band have done.
So the next time you see me coming, don’t you dare try to steal my light
The album is an encapsulation of defiance, a retaking of control, and a new belief. Feral and intense, bruised and brutal, it is a personal exploration of the guts needed to retaliate while still recognising that the harm has been done and those scars need to heal. The End, with its dense, double-tracked vocals adding a ghostly effect to the rolling rhythm, adds a further critical eye over the current mountain that bands must climb, but there is catharsis and release, a realisation that with time comes change.
The title track takes us there. A looser groove, the band still make sure it hits hard. But before that, they drop their fantastic cover of PJ Harvey’s 50ft Queenie. Stripped down to a thumping bass and rocketing drums, it is unhinged and full of the bravado of the original. It really shows how, while Quartin may be the focus, drummer Macky Bowman and bassist Kendall Wind, tight and fluid at every moment, provide the force that comes from within the songs. Anyone who witnessed any of Jon Spencer’s recent shows knows exactly what they are capable of.
While Got Me Good, stripped back to just a clean-amped guitar and vocals, and All I Got, with its floating verses, provide spaces through which the album can breathe, it cannot be denied that this is a collection of force. Signing off with the most chaotic song, Red Hot, The Bobby Lees make it crystal clear that they are back, on form, and to be reckoned with.
Thank fuck!
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Words by Nathan Whittle. Find his Louder Than War archive here.
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