Album: Nixon
Artist: Lambchop
Born: Nashville, Tennessee
Released: February 2000
Genre: Alt Country
Lambchop was a band I came to late in life. I didn't listen to Nixon when it came out right at the start of the 21st century, but instead Damaged (2006) was my entry point and from there I worked my ways backwards. With Lambchop, that's a fairly long way to go. Starting out in the early 1990s, right at the epicentre of country music (Nashville, Tennessee), the band were one of several groups (Wilco springs to mind) that updated country for a contemporary audience. With Kurt Wagner as the creative force at the heart of a group that consists of 10+ members, Lambchop have always had an old school Nashville flavour, especially when playing live. Mixing country with soul and surrealism, Nixon was hailed by the British music press on release and was listed in many magazine end-of-year polls (another example, if one were needed on this blog, of talented American musicians first gaining wider recognition this side of the Atlantic). As well as country and soul, there's a strong element of dream pop in the album's sophisticated arrangements and beautiful melodies. Although the lyrics tend to be full of self-deprecation, or things broken and left behind, there's tenderness and sincerity in Wagner's words too, especially in songs like Up With The People and The Distance From Her To There. The first is one of my favourite tracks on the album, with its hand claps and uplifting gospel chorus that give it a strong Motown feel.
Not everybody will immediately take to Wagner's voice, which can vary between falsetto and murmur. Like Leonard Cohen, he's not afraid to poke fun at his own vocal limitations ("He's not even a very good singer"), one of several self-mocking lines on opening track The Old Gold Shoe, which features lovely strings but also laments Nixon's legacy. Grumpus has more of a rock groove, as Wagner sings of being a "restless boy in a restless town", while You Masculine You is the perfect vehicle for his falsetto. Nashville Parent is one of the sadder moments on the record, as Wagner paints a picture of a suburban scene of everyday despair ("We will take the ways of sin / and smash them like glass against the wall"). The band then introduce disco beats and funk on What Else Could It Be?, a simple love song that stretches the boundaries of country music, while The Distance From Her To There has a traditional pedal steel guitar sound and lyrics that speak of domestic bliss ("The lights outside tonight are far from home / and I'm out drinking in the yard"). The Book I Haven't Read is another song Wagner wrote in praise of his wife, and is one of the album's highlights, borrowing a line from a Curtis Mayfield song (Baby It's You). The strings are a bit syrupy to start with, but the song's worth sticking with. Things take a darker turn with The Petrified Florist, as Wagner looks at how the society that Nixon left behind took away the safety net for the poor. The Butcher Boy, a reworking of a British folk song, explores similar territory. A mark of the band's enduring talent, Lambchop and Wagner are still putting out great albums today.
Lambchop was a band I came to late in life. I didn't listen to Nixon when it came out right at the start of the 21st century, but instead Damaged (2006) was my entry point and from there I worked my ways backwards. With Lambchop, that's a fairly long way to go. Starting out in the early 1990s, right at the epicentre of country music (Nashville, Tennessee), the band were one of several groups (Wilco springs to mind) that updated country for a contemporary audience. With Kurt Wagner as the creative force at the heart of a group that consists of 10+ members, Lambchop have always had an old school Nashville flavour, especially when playing live. Mixing country with soul and surrealism, Nixon was hailed by the British music press on release and was listed in many magazine end-of-year polls (another example, if one were needed on this blog, of talented American musicians first gaining wider recognition this side of the Atlantic). As well as country and soul, there's a strong element of dream pop in the album's sophisticated arrangements and beautiful melodies. Although the lyrics tend to be full of self-deprecation, or things broken and left behind, there's tenderness and sincerity in Wagner's words too, especially in songs like Up With The People and The Distance From Her To There. The first is one of my favourite tracks on the album, with its hand claps and uplifting gospel chorus that give it a strong Motown feel.
Not everybody will immediately take to Wagner's voice, which can vary between falsetto and murmur. Like Leonard Cohen, he's not afraid to poke fun at his own vocal limitations ("He's not even a very good singer"), one of several self-mocking lines on opening track The Old Gold Shoe, which features lovely strings but also laments Nixon's legacy. Grumpus has more of a rock groove, as Wagner sings of being a "restless boy in a restless town", while You Masculine You is the perfect vehicle for his falsetto. Nashville Parent is one of the sadder moments on the record, as Wagner paints a picture of a suburban scene of everyday despair ("We will take the ways of sin / and smash them like glass against the wall"). The band then introduce disco beats and funk on What Else Could It Be?, a simple love song that stretches the boundaries of country music, while The Distance From Her To There has a traditional pedal steel guitar sound and lyrics that speak of domestic bliss ("The lights outside tonight are far from home / and I'm out drinking in the yard"). The Book I Haven't Read is another song Wagner wrote in praise of his wife, and is one of the album's highlights, borrowing a line from a Curtis Mayfield song (Baby It's You). The strings are a bit syrupy to start with, but the song's worth sticking with. Things take a darker turn with The Petrified Florist, as Wagner looks at how the society that Nixon left behind took away the safety net for the poor. The Butcher Boy, a reworking of a British folk song, explores similar territory. A mark of the band's enduring talent, Lambchop and Wagner are still putting out great albums today.
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