Ladyfinger’s new LP, Dusk, dropped today on Saddle Creek Records. The CD is more up-tempo, more “tuneful” than Heavy Hands, which on some level, was actually a bit, well, heavy handed. What a difference dynamics makes. Take “Little Things,” for instance, a track that bleeds to nothing before blowing up in your face. “Read the Will” simmers until it reaches a boiling point halfway through then spills all over the floor. So does “Plans,” which would be my pick as the album single. Ladyfinger may have sounded like two feral cats in a burlap sack before, now they sound like indie buzzsaw-rock pioneers. Omaha’s version of Helmet or Queens of the Stone Age? I don’t know about that.

The question is what will it take for this record to break through to an audience that eluded Heavy Hands? A brief tour with Little Brazil is a fun start, though you could argue that neither band is building on the other’s “big following.” They’re slated to play with Cursive in Tempe in March. I’m guessing that they’ll be at SXSW. What they need is a few months on tour opening for someone that’s huge in a Foo Fighters sort of way. How does that happen? It doesn’t, not for an indie band. In lieu of that, Ladyfinger will have to hit the road for months and months and miles and miles at a time this year. Are they up to the challenge?

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