Energetic yet consummately accomplished Americana debut from Milwaukee five piece.
Ladybird are a five-piece band hailing from Milwaukee. Having been playing live on the local scene there since 2021, they are now expanding their horizons, and are rapidly establishing themselves as a fully-fledged touring band. ‘Amy Come On Home’ is their first full album, and is the clarion call of a band ready to make a splash in the wider music world.
Ladybird’s music, articulate yet muscular, driven yet sensitive, appears to come from the same fountainhead as the likes of Springsteen, the Drive-By Truckers or the Hold Steady, with touches of Jason Isbell, the Gaslight Anthem or even REM; these influences are worn lightly, though.
Indeed, given this is their debut record, Ladybird seem fully formed already, with a sound and world view in place, and no little art and poetry to go with their obvious musical chops. Kudos must go to producer Ian Olvera for working closely with the band, and making a record that sounds effortlessly cool and intense and fun, often all at the same time.
Songwriter Peter McDermott has a sometimes remarkable turn of phrase, having drawn on his influences sufficiently to inform his attention to detail, but nonetheless presenting his own vision, often to sublime effect. Take these closing lines from ‘Kemp Lane’, where the thread of a relationship tale finds the narrator looking back to the hopeful start, though the dark, minor key rush of the music offers a hint that things might not end well.
‘them lightning bugs surrounded us
quiet and bright down at kemp lane
it was the most we’d seen of our flickered dreams
and the least we’d ever known of pain’
McDermott is a lyricist of great sensitivity, and each song has a cast of its own, and a different story to tell (perhaps the best example being the title track, which is a cinematic yet empathic look at some of the broken lives in small-town America). His wordplay and storytelling never distract from the music or the songs themselves, which frequently provide a rollicking backdrop with big, singalong choruses, and some lovely nuances using smart chords, and slick tempo and rhythm changes. Admittedly, the skill and subtlety is sometimes cloaked by the sound of a great bar band having the best time playing together – for the listener, though, that is both fun and intoxicating, while leaving depths that are gradually uncovered with repeated listens.
Therefore, a big shout-out is due to the rest of the band as well; guitarist Sam Szymborski, bassist Josh Rardin, drummer Aidan Gouran, and pedal steel player Will Hansen. One thing that should definitely be noted, this record sounds like a band at every turn, an equal partnership who move together into and through the music, individually skilled but never showboating above the mix.
Szymborski also contributes two songs and a co-write on the record, and this definitely helps to add additional flavours to the overall feel. The joyously punky ‘Honky Tonk Mama’, with a delicious tempo change in the chorus, is a riot, while ‘Fight Song’ is a campfire singalong that acts as a breather amongst the more band-driven songs (and presumably closes out side one if you buy the vinyl).
Ladybird are a band that sound ready for the road, and ‘Amy Come On Home’ just begs to be played through a car stereo on a dusk drive through the suburbs or the farmlands. It’s always great to get in on a new band that are surely destined for greater things. Turn it on, turn it up.
