Brijitte West and The Greenowskis set November release for new 14-track album
Brijitte West and The Greenowskis will release their self-titled new album on 13 November via Rum Bar Records, with the former NY Loose frontwoman describing it as “the NY Loose album that never was”.
Recorded in Italy with an all-Italian line-up, the 14-track record pairs West with guitarist and vocalist Wilko Zanni of Italian rock outfit Rats, alongside singer, songwriter and bassist Lester Greenowski. The album includes 12 new songs, a cover of Dead Boys cut All This and More, and an acoustic reworking of NY Loose deep cut The Luckiest Girl.
Its first single, Doin’ Alright, arrives as a clear statement of intent from West, whose vocal presence remains as forceful as ever.
“A lot of people think of me as an omniscient character – I’m sort of there, but I’m not there,” West says. “This new album, and particularly the single Doin’ Alright, is me saying: I’m still here, I’m still rocking. I’m still turning up the mains and breaking free from the chains that held me down.”
Watch the video for Doin’ Alright here.
Lower East Side memories and harder personal subjects
Among the new material is My Lower East Side, which draws on West’s formative years amid the scramble of New York’s club circuit. The track recalls a time when bands competed not only for bills and audiences, but for scarce poster space on the city’s streets.
“There were poster wars,” West explains. “We would have to hit the streets at 3 a.m. because you had to be the last one to put your poster up, otherwise it would be covered over by other bands. We spent what money we had on rehearsal spaces and instruments, so I remember our shoes being held together with duct tape.”
Elsewhere, Sorry I’ve Been a Stranger finds West writing about reconnecting with someone important after years apart, while Don’t Hurt Yourself addresses self-harm.
“It’s a terrible illness that doesn’t get talked about enough – and one that affected someone very close to me, so it was a topic I really wanted to write a song about,” she says.
A final reckoning with NY Loose
The album’s closing stretch includes Nobody Won and the acoustic version of The Luckiest Girl. On Nobody Won, West revisits the difficult final chapter of NY Loose, reflecting on internal tensions and the bruising realities of trying to sustain a band in the music business.
“It’s about how things were not working for us,” she says. “It resulted in no one doing anything for a very long time because we were battle-scarred from everything. There was no prize.”
West adds: “In a lot of ways, I feel this is the best album I have ever made. It feels like the NY Loose album that never was, yet a seamless collaboration with the best band I have ever worked with.”
