Review Summary: A tentative step towards brilliance
It's quite an ask for Aly Spaltro to follow the critical success of the 2013 release Ripley Pine. The hour-long debut featured a bold folk/chamber pop influenced sound with bursting with ambitious sounds, rich variety and strong sense of emotional authenticity. While I found there to be a few experiments which were a tad meandering or artificially dramatic, on the whole, this album was unmistakable and largely enjoyable.
To my delight, I found all none of these qualities to be lacking this this new effort by Lady Lamb. Those familiar with her the aforementioned sound will not be lost or disappointed. From the first sonic explosion sprouting from simple and sweet melodies on "Vena Cava", the quirky charms on "Billions of Eyes", the subtle, innocent sweetness of "Sunday Shoes" down to the sprawling epic that is the final track "Atlas", much of what made Lady Lamb distinctive is held firmly intact. In stark contrast to the hunger of modern pop to violently grab the listener's attention at any and every given moment, Lady Lamb makes a concerted effort to maintain pacing throughout. To this end, Spaltro's compositions always bring just what is needed at every given moment, the instrumental crescendo come to full broadside at the right moments but they're only spectacular thanks to the delicate scaffolding moments and vice versa. This effect is aided by the immediately striking strength of the vocals throughout the entire album. Bucking another contemporary fascination, each word is delivered crisply and audibly, whether it is soaring with the drafts of emotions or plodding along the more melancholy moments, Spaltro expertly utilizes her vocal expressions in a deliberate and skilled manner. Never do you have to guess what she's saying or the feelings behind the words. Which is a good thing considering the lyricism is also quite good. I will say some of the metaphors are a bit lost upon me, but the imagery is striking when it wants to be and usually does an excellent job in informing the listener of what points she's trying to communicate in an interesting way, without being too obtuse or overly simplistic.
Glancing over the tracklist, given it's somewhat above average run time, there's really a commendable lack of filler tracks. There are definitely tracks that I don't like quite enough to consider good, but there's only a few and unlike most albums, I didn't like them for reasons other than they were just too bland or uninteresting. Another striking element of the tracklist is the diversity of sound. The genre as a whole tends to gravitate towards being similar sounding track to track. Thankfully, After is a bounty of interesting and varied sounds. Given her output this is somewhat unsurprising but I found that she was willing to mix it up even moreso than on Ripley Pine. While they tend to follow a rise and fall formula, each song has a unique identity within the whole and after a few runs through, each is easily recognizable.
Now this comes at a price and it's a bit of a Catch 22. Because the diversity within the album casts a wide net, it as a wider appeal as there are just more sounds there to like. And in that respect, I have no doubt that it is certainly a success. However, this left me feeling a bit of missing cohesion in comparison to Ripley Pine, which felt a bit more focused (not to say that album wasn't sonically assorted as well). It's really somewhat unfair that it should be counted against this album but I think it's more than possible to offer enough to be consistently interesting but feel cohesive as well. Another gripe related to this is that I felt the best songs are the ones that felt most akin to Ripley Pine. My favorite track thus far, "Spat out Spit Out" sounds more at home on her last release and the tracks which stray further from the established tend to be my least favorite like "Dear Arkansas Daughter". But it's not the worst flaw by any means as this to me represents experimentation and the progenitors to future success in future ventures as well as broadening her appeal a bit. The only other major complaint I have is that there aren't any really stunning tracks. I found myself drifting in and out of the album for more memorable tracks from other artists from time to time. It could be in part to the best parts of this sounding as though I've heard them before, but to me, this is a conglomerate of good songs without a unifying attitude or direction without the really standout songs which elevate truly excellent albums. When taken in unison, it makes for a slightly lackluster final product which was prone to losing my attention (I understand the hypocrisy) and being a shade less than truly memorable.
When all is said and done, "After" is an great album, and one that I consider a worthy and interesting paving stone on Spaltro's path. While perhaps a bit short of the gem that was Ripley Pine, she has consistently demonstrated a knack for lyricism, vocal strength, and songwriting which are rarely seen in unison to this magnitude. She's taken a formula and expanded upon it, and while I think some of these runners need to be further developed, it's an admirable and sensible progression for a promising young artist.
