From the off, with a vocal intro landing over a classic trumpet with just enough echo on it, you know exactly what kind of ride this is going to be. ‘Let It Out! (Uncle Tim Remix)‘ makes its intentions absolutely clear; this is going to be fun, proper, unashamed, floor-filling fun.
Lemon are a Dutch four-piece, Mark Bongers (bass and vocals), Thomas Gense (keyboards, guitars and vocals), Paul Hesen (drums and vocals), and Ralf Hesen (guitar and vocals), with seven albums already under their belts, as well as support slots alongside Primal Scream and Stereo MC’s. You can hear every inch of that experience in this track, with the indie dance drum beat, funky guitar groove (which, honestly, is delicious), a synth soaring above it all, effortlessly cool ‘yeahs’ in the vocals, and a talking voice with distortion that pulls the whole thing through a beautiful collision of 90s hip hop, ‘Madchester’ groove and something that is purely Lemon.
The lyrics are clipped, street-talk real, gloomy in tone but wise in message. “Let it out and catch some sun. Let it out, go have some fun.” Sometimes that’s exactly what needs saying. Not everything has to be a call to arms, sometimes the reminder just to breathe and let yourself move is the most useful thing a song can do.
Female vocals, courtesy of Yasmina van Gurp, layer in and dig even deeper into the funk, adding warmth and depth, with the whole thing giving a poolside quality; Ibiza, Bali, a festival field at golden hour, a club, but it stretches across seasons too. This is equally at home on a winter playlist when you’re desperate for summer to come back and sweep you up in its sway.
The finish is abrupt, which live would have the potential for stretching into something much longer and even more joyous; one of those beats you could genuinely lose yourself in for hours.
The second summer of love had Primal Scream and the Happy Mondays; Gorillaz gave us something altogether more weird and wonderful. Maybe, just maybe, Lemon are quietly laying the groundwork for a third, and if this is the opening argument, it will be very warmly received. ‘Uncle Tim’ is absolutely welcome in this house, any day of the week.
‘Let It Out! (Uncle Tim Remix)‘ by Lemon is out now on all streaming platforms and is currently featured on my ‘Echoes on the Dancefloor‘ playlist.
22nd July 2026