Lady Lamb The Beekeper at The Sugar Club, Dublin on Wednesday 16th October 2013
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, a bit of a mouthfull of a name for anyone unfamiliar with the work of Aly Spaltro the 23 year old Brooklynite playing her first show in Dublin ever, on this rainy Wednesday.
The Sugar Club is one of those unusual venues in Dublin which is always a weird mix of intimate and widely open, it feels like its made more for burlesque shows and cabaret than the kind of intimate show the audience is expecting tonight with Aly herself describing it as “very sultry”, reminding her of “twin peaks… in a good way”
Taking to the stage first however is Irelan’s own Tvvins, made up of Conor Adams and lar Kaye of The Cast of Cheers and Adebisi Shank respectively. This was their second show ever, after only debuting at Hard Working Class Heroes recently. Heavier than their only single would have you imagine, the boys take point with a vox recorder manipulating Adams vocals whilst they pump out a feisty five song set that made them many new fans. Suffice to say, two shows in and the boy are already honin g their years of experience into something special that can only get better with age.
Aly Spaltros set was opened with her taking to a dark stage and blasting out a song devoid of instruments, showing the world how accapella should be done. Minus the collective of musicians you hear on her debut record, Spaltro is playing alone tonight, her guitar in hand, and yet at the tender age of 23, she exudes confidence. She is far from being a nascent performer despite her debut release only hitting the shelves this year, spending years honing her craft along the East Coast of the States.
Following her accapella introduction she bursts into Bird Balloons revealing herself as a much more mature musician than would initially appear. Yes, the glasses were off and here she was engaging frequently with the audience, offering stories about her brothers love of One Direction and his innate jealousy of her proximity to Niall Horans birthplace.
Aly shows she has a certain way with words, her lyricism far surpasses her youth, it’s impressive to be able to talk about lyrical themes or conventions at all, let alone how they’ve been subverted. Her songs kick live, which make sense considering that’s how they’ve subsisted for so many years prior to Ripely Pine. Clearly playing to a dedicated fanbase of people calling for tracks she didn’t even know were available online.
She may have been going quite some time now, Aly Spaltro, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper is still just starting out, with intentions of her new record coming next year. The Sugar Club played host to something exceptionally beautiful that night, in the form of an artists in her element taking to the stage and doing what they truly love, and making sure she brought every person into it all with her emotionally. A talent, an inspiration and an artist worth keeping an eye on for future shows.