Search - Ladybug Transistor :: Argyle Heir

Do you like scones?

Greg Cleary | Marquette, MI United States | 03/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Argyle Heir" does not offer nearly as many pop hooks as its predecessor, "The Albemarle Sound," but it is still a fine album by almost any standard. Here's the way I think of it: If "The Albemarle Sound" is a sweet roll, "Argyle Heir" is more like a scone or an English muffin. I should mention that I like sweet rolls (and their musical equivalents) better than scones or English muffins. However, that does not mean that I would like to eat a sweet roll for breakfast every single morning. The only truly great pop song on "Argyle Heir" is "Perfect for Shattering"--an incredibly catchy yet evocative song along the lines of the previous album's "Meadowport Arch," but with a steadier backbeat. There are plenty of subtler pleasures awaiting the patient listener, however. "Echoes" is a dreamy tune that utilizes a bent guitar note in the chorus, just before Gary Olson sings, "The fields are perfectly sown." It's a quintessential Ladybug moment. This is a band that often sees beauty in the way that humans alter the landscape--a rare sentiment in modern music. They sing not of forests, but of gardens and beautiful old houses. Other standout tracks are "Wooden Bars" (I am intrigued yet ultimately mystified by this notion of "counting the feathers on every bird," which is mentioned in this song and one other) and "The Reclusive Hero." The latter is built around a herky-jerky riff that is played on some sort of keyboard instrument, maybe an electric piano, with violin and flute adding countermelodies. It is the arrangements, after all, that make "Argyle Heir" hold up so well to repeated listens. The musicianship of this band (as well as the related bands The Essex Green and the Sixth Great Lake) is well above the level we expect from indie rockers. There is nothing punk rock or revolutionary about the Ladybug Transistor. Their sound is unapologetically retro, and any good Marxist would hate the lyrics, which seem to allude mostly to either wealthy people or childhood memories (or, perhaps, childhood memories of wealthy people). But, in their own way, the band does remind us of the freedom that exists in our minds, and of our capacity to appreciate beauty where we find it. And that's good enough for me."

Fresh 'Heir'

Eliot Wilder | Boston, MA USA | 10/03/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Take the less easy elements of easy listening, siphon off the kitsch factor, sprinkle in strings, woodwinds and brass and what you end up with is the soft but not shallow sounds of the Ladybug Transistor. This six-piece mini orchestra hails from Brooklyn but its musical recipe has more in common with overseas counterparts Belle & Sebastian, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and the Apartments than what usually gets cooked up in the States. Bright and bouncy melodies are undercut by sardonic lyrics and Gary Olson's warm, deadpan voice, which is both charming and mysterious. This is progressive music as it was meant to be - incorporating the beauty and sweep of the classics into the popular form, but managing to steer clear of the overly arch pretentiousness that has kept so much of "prog rock" from being truly engaging. Strange, ambitious and remarkable, "Argyle Heir" will fill the space between your ears with technicolor air."