Lanie Gardner: ‘polaroids’ – EP Review

Lanie Gardner shares her new EP, polaroids, officially out now, June 6th on all streaming platforms. Learn more and listen to the new album below.

Following the release of her 2024 debut, the introspective A Songwriter’s Diary, Lanie Gardner is back with a new EP. On polaroids, the rising singer-songwriter shares six new tracks, each a perfect snapshot of summertime in the country.

Released via BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, the collection is primed to get fans ready for sunshine, sand, and slowing down. “My new EP, polaroids, is all summer songs,” She says of the new collection. “Anything that hopefully you can play on a beach or a boat or in your yard, out in the sun.”

The North Carolina native opens the EP with “Takin’ the Slow Ride,” a sensuous and twangy ode to slowing down and enjoying life’s simple moments. With smoky vocals and penchant for catchy melodies, the track sets up the EP perfectly, inviting listeners into her world of sunset skies, cotton candy neon, and an old Ford dashboard. “We’re just taking our time,” She muses, “Takin’ the slow ride.”

“Boys Like You” and “Concrete Cowboy” introduces listeners to guys who are nothing but trouble. The former is a pedal-and-steel-laden look at those “boys like you” who “keep one foot out the screen door” and are “only made to run.” Likewise, “Concrete Cowboy” finds Gardner scorned by a man who isn’t what he claims to be. On the slow burning ballad, Gardner pairs her sultry vocals with an unusual beat as she confronts the imposter country boy.

“‘Concrete Cowboy’ is calling out the boys who roll in from the city pretending to be good ol’ country boys,” shared Gardner. “Sneaky little posers who take advantage of hearts that love quick and love strong—the hearts of Southern belles. I reckon you’ve got to have a heart made of concrete to do a woman like that. But the truth is that maybe these poor guys just never learned how to love a good ol’ country girl. And that? That’s a damn shame—for them.”

“Buzzkill” is a countrified take on a girl who just doesn’t quite fit in and drags the crowd down. She’s “a pair of high heels with a bad attitude” and the track is a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek kiss-off. Laden with Southern attitude and country toe-tapping instrumentation, it’s the perfect girl-power country song or TikTok soundbyte. “I wrote this song about a friend who had a habit of bringing around the textbook ‘mean girls,’ the ones you could see coming from a mile away. They always had bad intentions,” She reveals. “He’s as stubborn as a mule, so we all figured we’d just let him be. But me? I like a buzz when I’ve caught it. So somebody had to say something—and you bet your a** I did. And I put it in a song.”

The EP rounds out with “Hold Your Horses,” a swinging and nostalgic search for the peace that comes from slowing down in one’s hometown, while “Little Bit Of Lovin’” closes the EP on a seductive note. On the playful and beat-laden track, she celebrates the kind of undeniable chemistry that makes it impossible to stay mad at someone you can’t resist.

On polaroids, Lanie Gardner teases her next full length album, due out later this year, while also offering listeners a perfect soundtrack to summer.

polaroids EP Track List:

1. Talkin’ The Slow Ride
2. Boys Like You
3. Buzzkill
4. Concrete Cowboy
5. Hold Your Horses
6. Little Bit Of Lovin’

Country Swag Picks:

1. Buzzkill
2. Takin’ the Slow Ride
3. Concrete Cowboy

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polaroids is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.