Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.
Have you ever seen what your childhood home used to look like on Google Maps and remember how bright the paint was? Or how small those trees were? Do the memories start flooding in of what life was like then, of what kind of person you used to be? Does it feel different now?
That inquisitive approach to nostalgia is all over Ladybird’s “Lapis Buckle,” the new track we’re helping the Milwaukee band premiere today. It’s a rustic ballad that examines the societal restrictions stemming from economic growth by posing the question: What happens when you look into the past while thinking about the now?
There’s a stereotypical throughline within country music that looks at change with a sour lens just for the sake of it. Ladybird put their spin on it by responding to the isolation that comes from change.
“Everytime I go home, there's a new development and a thousand new faces I’ve never seen before,” frontman Peter McDermott said, referring to his hometown of Frederick, Md. It’s a place he holds dear to his heart, and he wanted to write a song that calls back to a past before everyone was reachable 24/7 and 10-story office buildings dotted the landscape.
“If you put your phone in your pocket and stand in the middle of Market Street … it's possible to imagine a world where you would 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,” McDermott posited.
Through a comforting instrumentation, Ladybird guide the listener through a recollection of the past that resonates with contentment, where your biggest worry is waiting for a call. It’s a simple perspective that's layered with deep harmonies from a pedal steel, providing a constant warmth for your thoughts. The result is a fuzzy love song that leaves just enough longing for a lover, not a notification:
Alone on barstool mountain
I realize the only mirror I miss is you
And the barkeep says there’s a call for me
But it ain’t from you so I tell her let me be
Cause I’m blue as the buckle through her beltloop
I got nothin’ left to look through
I’m blue as the buckle through her beltloop
I got nothin’ left to look through
Ladybird juxtapose waiting in this perfect memory with waiting in the modern sense. Instead of an intentful patience for a call that's been a long time coming, we now wait anxiously for a coded message from people we barely know. The band faces that anxiety and says no, they want to wait in their special place for their special someone who will call when the time is right.
For them, it’s better to spend hours waiting for a loved one than minutes for a stranger.
You can listen to “Lapis Buckle” anytime using the player at the top of the page and catch it on 88Nine today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.). The new single comes out this weekend and is part of the band’s upcoming record Clementine, which is set for release Oct. 10.
