Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
Ripely Pine
Release Date: Feb 19, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Indie Folk
Record label: Ba Da Bing Records
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Ripely Pine from Amazon
Album Review: Ripely Pine by Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
Excellent, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating A-
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper might have an adorable moniker, but there’s nothing cute about her music. Lady Lamb, more conventionally known as Aly Spaltro, has fearlessly conquered huge stages, having played SXSW and opened for the likes of venerable guitarist Kaki King. Now the 20-something old soul has boiled down her numerous bedroom recordings into one equally audacious debut record, Ripely Pine.
Based on rating 8/10
Twenty-three-year-old Brooklyn resident Aly Spaltro, who records under the “band name” Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, has quite the intriguing tale when it came to finding her muse and an outlet for it. While living in Brunswick, Maine, she worked for four years at Bart’s & Greg’s DVD Explosion rental shop and toiled the 3 to 11 p.m. shift. When she was done her work and locked up the store, she’d pull out her guitar and assorted gear from behind a wall of movies, and write songs until the crack of dawn.
Based on rating 7.8/10
Aly Spaltro’s stage name and backstory may at first seem awfully whimsical; the name Lady Lamb the Beekeeper came to her in a dream, and she first started playing and practicing in the basement of the video rental store where she worked near her hometown of Portland, Maine. So far, so Fox Searchlight. But forget fey; that basement gave her license to get loud, and the songs on Ripely Pine are true to their original forms, bolstered with rugged, hefty arrangements largely written by Spaltro.
Opinion: Excellent
LADY LAMB THE BEEKEEPER Ripely Pine Anyone who has ever seen and heard Aly Spaltro on a stage can testify to her powers as a live performer. As Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, she is the unsettling combination of ferocious and tender, the kind of singer who veers from serene to unhinged within a turn of phrase. She’s the car that hums along the highway before careening off a cliff just for the hell of it.
Opinion: Excellent
Despite the darling twee implications of her name, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper (nee Aly Spaltro) is anything but shy and cutesy. Yeah, she might name tracks for eggplants and the romanticized but macabre art of taxidermy, and yeah, she plays the banjo and ukulele. But please toss those images aside and replace them with a bright artist displaying skill and youthful eagerness—no shtick.
'Ripely Pine'
is available now