Aural Fix: Lady Lamb

Aly Spaltro began recording in the basement of the video store where she worked in 2007, and has been drawing on creative energy as Lady Lamb (Or Lady Lamb The Beekeeper), every since. She satisfies an amalgam of genres- folk, pop, rock, gospel, country, even some punk. Her earlier albums have had her tearing up a banjo, singing deeply about loss and confusion, or portraying darkness with a comical edge.

This year’s album After has Spaltro’s soulful voice echoing to compliment her guitars on several songs, something signature from previous work. But this is a new beginning of sorts. Her writing is prose set to music, and she has an ability to relay the simplest of observations, special connections with strangers, and a dream-like narrative of childhood memories.

Much of her songwriting process is also said to be inspired by writing down parts of vivid dreams in a journal, trying to capture subconsciousness. Songs are led by the flow of her instrumentation, playing bass, drums, and woodwinds for tracks herself, with friends Marco Buselli on percussion and Nadim Issa on organ and vibraphone, as well as bringing some brass players. One of the best parts about After is that the constant tempo changes create a ride within songs, particularly the breaks into bashing, banging rock, like the beauty and metaphor of “Vena Cava” unleashing into a fun rant, or the heavy static and speed of “Atlas,” dialing back into quiet harmonies and strings. Either way, Lady Lamb belts it out. »

– Brandy Crowe

Lady Lamb plays live in Portland April 27 at Mississippi Studios