Ladybird - Clementine (2025) Hi-Res

A mix of ’90s rock and country produces an album trying to be too many things to too many people. Country music is a strange thing. For something so rooted in tradition, it is often subject to wildly fluctuating whims of fashion. The fashion of the moment seems to be to hark back to what are seen as simpler, nicer times. While that’s hard to argue with, given the state of the world, when it comes to music, it is likely to send us in one of two directions. One where the best of earlier decades is reinterpreted, and then there are those that take nostalgia and graft it to aspects of rock or country music that the artist hopes will hit the spot for listeners.

Ladybird’s debut single ‘Lapis Buckle’ falls awkwardly between those two stools. Big eighties drums and chiming guitars, and the occasional pedal steel swoop give way to an alt-rock guitar riff. Songwriter Pete McDermott says, “’Lapis Buckle’ lives in a world where you could walk over to your neighbor’s to see what they were up to, call a buddy from a payphone, or tune in to the radio station in your car because that was the only option. That’s where this story and this character begin: wandering the streets of downtown, headed from smoky bar to smoky bar, trying like hell to get a hold of someone in the only way they can.”

He also suggests that “Over the last few years, I’ve become so interested in thinking about the world before cell phones. People say that perhaps we’re more connected now, for better or for worse. But I’m not sure that’s the case.” The social media/cell phone as disconnector has become a common complaint in songs as well as in life, but sadly, McDermott offers little new insight.

The song which precedes this on the band’s debut album, “Famous Band”, name-checks the Nickelback song ‘Rockstar,’ and sounds much as you imagine Chad Kroeger’s band might sound if they had been brought up in Nashville. It quickly loses its way under a big rock sound, with a pedal steel once again bolted on top to try and bring a bit of country to the mix.

The nostalgia theme continues on the third song ‘Old Fashioned.’ This time, they use The Foo Fighters ‘Times Like These’ to reminisce about those happier times when the world was brighter and love was new. They clearly have a pedal steel player in the band and can’t bring themselves to say, honestly, it’s one thing too many in the mix.

The album title song is noticeably better; it still has a lot of 90s alt-rock about it, but the song has a life of its own. ‘Put Me Down’, however, is sung in a key that is simply not ideal for the singer. With ‘Pittsburgh’, we are in a quieter, more country-flavoured world where the pedal steel counts for something. At this point, we find that the band has a personality. This is a really good mainstream country ballad. ‘Redneck Repent’ is another proper country song. The partly spoken lyrics reflect the genre’s love of a broken car and the rediscovery of the narrator’s church roots. They have now got on a roll and ’99’ has left behind the pop metal and embraces country rock, which could have been from any time since about 1990. It’s a good song, and pushed out as a single would get them airplay. The final song ‘Where Ya Goin’ is poppier but still in keeping with the previous three as a proper country tune, written and played with verve and enthusiasm.

The press release recommends Ladybird to fans of Drive By Truckers, Lucero, and Magnolia Electric Co. It’s hard to see how. Ian Olvera and Ladybird are credited as producers, but a firmer hand was needed to make the best of songs which are all passable, with some which are way better than that. This is an album with a really good EP crying to be let out. The last four songs are decent mainstream country. Shame they are buried beneath the attempts to appeal to too wide an audience.