The Ladybug Transistor

Pastoral pop has never sounded more contradictory than it does in the hands of The Ladybug Transistor, which has transformed a little house in Brooklyn to a studio better suited to the ’60s English countryside. Drawing from a variety of ’60s pop sources, Ladybug Transistor songs are as sophisticated as they are approachable, warping comely melodies and spacious instrumentation into moody floaters with harmonies that are tough to top. The band’s new album, Clutching Stems, is the first since drummer San Fadyl died from severe asthma, and though it bears the pain of loss, it remains as poppy, from surging dreaminess of “Light On The Narrow Gauge” to the jazzy explorations of “Caught Don’t Walk.”

Updated 06/28/2011