Lady Lamb The Bee Keeper

This is the time of year that I review something I've completely missed. And I missed this one because I wasn't listening to people. Our photographer Tif told me about Lady Lamb a while ago and the only reason I remember this convo was because I said that Lady Lamb (Aly Spaltro) looked like Kate Mara. And I'm positive some of my virtual friends played it via our online DJing community. 

The last straw was seeing this album hit many year end lists so I had to grab it. 

Once I got all the way through...I could see the hype. Fuck, after the first song I could see what the hype is about. 

Aly's voice is so perfectly fucking natural. It's as moist as a brownie and as clear as pickle jar. The notes effortlessly slide out of her throat hole. There are singers like Grimes who sing through her nose, or Shakira who sing out of that frog in her throat, or the dude from The National who sings from that graveyard in his soul, or Ben Gibbard through a clenched sphincter. NOT that any of this is a bad thing...I really like some of those pre-mentioned singers. And singing is so subjective anyway. 

BUT there's something refreshing about a natural sounding voice. When I hear Aly's singing voice, I can easily imagine her talking voice. If Aly called me on the phone....I'd easily guess: Is this 'Aly?' And I'd be right. Conversely, if the dude from The National called me I'd expect him to sound like (as Tim would say) Dracula with a mouth full of peanut butter. And if Grimes called me....I'd expect her to sound like a porn star catering to those with Daddy fetishes. 

Then there is the structure of these songs. These tracks are adventurous and interesting; they keep me on the edge of my butt table. Sometimes it sounds like she's seemlessly welding 2 or 3 ideas into one grand master plan like on 'Violet Clementine' or 'Dear Arkansas Daughter'. Sometimes the energy dips and peak between verse and chorus like on 'Vena Cava'. Sometimes she uncontrollably spins out of control like on 'Spat Out Spit.' And sometimes she just straight up jams the fuck out of you like on 'Billions of Eyes'...pedal to the metal with no fucking breathers. 

I hate to sound pretentious, like a music critic is apt to sounding when using words like 'complete', but After is pretty fucking 'complete'. It's complete in the sense that it's consistently great. It's complete in the sense that it sounds mature. It's complete in its fullness via instrumentation and production. It's complete because it completes me. 

I love Lady Lamb. I'm sorry for sleeping on you. And watch out for Frank Underwood in the subway every time a train is approaching.