The Albemarle Sound

Album review

Ladybug Transistor's 1999 release The Albemarle Sound is one of the great chamber pop albums to be released in any era. On it, the band absorb great chunks of influence from the past and meld it to a modern approach with the result being music that nods to the Beach Boys, the Left Banke, the Bee Gees, and Burt Bacharach while taking into account the psychedelic guitars of Elephant 6 and a general DIY approach to recording that makes the record feel small enough to fit in one's back pocket but also large enough to fill a heart up to the brim with real deal feelings. The band layer strings, jangling guitars, horns, warm keyboards, flutes, and vocal harmonies into a pleasing tapestry of sound for vocalist Gary Olson to moodily croon over. His deep, unaffected vocals are one of the things that set the band apart from both the E6 groups and other chamber pop bands; he's not looking to charm anyone with cuteness or sing like a lost Beach Boy, he's just trying to get the story across with minimum fuss. This kind of dramatic undersell carries over to the music as well. Everyone is very good at their chosen instruments, but they don't try to impress people with that. Instead, everyone bands together and under Olson’s direction manage to sound accomplished and innocent all at once. For examples of the intricacies of the arrangements, check out "Six Times" where the pieces fit together in breathtaking fashion or "The Swimmer" where thethe 12-string jangle and bouncy piano add some poppy sugar to the mixture. Listen to the way the reverb splash of the nimble bassline on the sweeping ballad "Today Knows' pairs with the lachrymose strings to create a melancholy cloud of sound for Olson to intone his most affecting vocal on the record or how the cellos and horns do a nifty little dance on the Sasha Bell-sung ballad "Aledia's Theme", which ends the album on an impressive note. This is the sound of a young band figuring things out, mixing and matching sounds and influences to come up with something they are proud to call their own. Any band of a similar ilk whether they were making records in 1967 or 1999 would be more than proud to have been able to make something this deftly made and emotionally impactful.

© Tim Sendra /TiVo