The Ladybug Transistor is the perennial indie bridesmaid. The Brooklyn band has been knocking around for some 16 years and released seven albums, but despite producing some beautiful indie pop music has never achieved widespread success.
On Clutching Stems, their latest release through Merge in the US and FortunaPop in the UK, it is easy to see why over their career they have remained credible but never commercial.
Across the 10 tracks there are perfect pop songs, lovely crisp production, sweeping strings and warm keyboards all neatly held together by founder Gary Olson’s deep vocals.
But sadly it is just not enough. Its like indie-pop by numbers with each track, such as ‘Light On the Narrow Guage’, just sounding too familiar and similar.
A little bit mid 1980s UK indie pop, a little bit Pavement, a little bit like Echo and the Bunnymen in places. It has all been done before, when the band started in the 1990s and still to this day. Nice, but not breathtaking, is my reluctant conclusion.
Will The Ladybug Transistor ever take centre-stage and be the indie bride? Not on the strength of this release.
6.5/10
by Joe Lepper
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