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I’d never heard of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper when I was asked to cover her forthcoming show in Chicago, so I threw on her debut album Ripely Pine to see what the fuss was about. Immediately fascinating phrases came jumping out at me from the alt-folk musical backdrop: “Take me by the hair to the ferris wheel... take me by the breakdown to my grave”; “Let’s crawl all over one another like crows on a carcass, like ants on a crumb, starving only for the taste of tongues”; “You risked your wrist to save my life and I should have kissed you that night”; “Absence makes my heart grow hollow”; “You make me into an egg without yolk”. And that’s just the first two songs.
It’s clear from the outset that Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (aka 23 year-old Maine-bred, Brooklyn-based Aly Spaltro) is no ordinary songwriter. These are lyrics with a novelist’s eye for detail, filled with a creepy gothic Christianity, and after watching an in-studio performance of “Hair to the Ferris Wheel” I found myself thinking she’s like Janis Joplin reborn as an emo kid who was raised on a steady diet of Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner. It’s a fascinating combination. And when Lady Lamb’s voice breaks from the emotional stress of the songs, as it does in the chorus of the epic finale, “Taxidermist Taxidermist,” it provides one of those genuinely human moments that are too rare in today’s world of auto-tuned false perfection. It’s a stellar debut.
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper will be heading out on the road in March in support of the equally-excellent Typhoon, and playing a few solo gigs along the way.
It’s clear from the outset that Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (aka 23 year-old Maine-bred, Brooklyn-based Aly Spaltro) is no ordinary songwriter. These are lyrics with a novelist’s eye for detail, filled with a creepy gothic Christianity, and after watching an in-studio performance of “Hair to the Ferris Wheel” I found myself thinking she’s like Janis Joplin reborn as an emo kid who was raised on a steady diet of Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner. It’s a fascinating combination. And when Lady Lamb’s voice breaks from the emotional stress of the songs, as it does in the chorus of the epic finale, “Taxidermist Taxidermist,” it provides one of those genuinely human moments that are too rare in today’s world of auto-tuned false perfection. It’s a stellar debut.
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper will be heading out on the road in March in support of the equally-excellent Typhoon, and playing a few solo gigs along the way.
03/19 9:30 Club* Washington, DC 03/20 Columbus Theatre Providence, RI 03/21 Higher Ground* Burlington, VT 03/22 The Sinclair * Cambridge, MA 03/23 The Sinclair* Cambridge, MA 03/24 Port City Music Hall* Portland, ME 03/25 Spaceland Ballroom* Hamden, CT |
03/27 Webster Hall* New York, NY
03/28 Union Transfer* Philadelphia, PA 03/29 Beachland Ballroom* Cleveland, OH 03/31 Headliner's Music Hall* Louisville, KY 04/01 The Bishop Bloomington, IN 04/02 Turner Hall * Milwaukee, WI 04/03 Metro* Chicago, IL 04/11 Portsmouth Songwriter Fest + |
* w/ Typhoon
+ w/ Feist, Johnny Swim
+ w/ Feist, Johnny Swim