Lambchop
"Is a Woman"
(Merge)

Kurt Wagner, the mastermind behind Nahsville's superb Lambchop, has resolved to start 2002 with a full scale tour in support of the mellow follow-up to 2000's "Nixon", entitled "Is a Woman". The band's lack of touring in the past should please fans of the band's original material, who yearn for the days when Lambchop was more than a Vic Chesnutt backup band. On "Is a Woman", Wagner leads Lambchop through 11 tracks of piano-driven bliss that will leave you in awe of their masterful combination of lyrical beauty and musical prowess. When listening to this record it is clear that every note has its place; the role of every instrument premeditated. And it is no coincidence that the piano, a tool so precious to the best of singer-songwriters, is prominent beginning on song one, "The Daily Growl". The piano resurfaces in many different roles throughout the record: in a > lead capacity aiding Warner's echoey ruminations, as well as a more subtle role in coloring the band's warped post-country shuffle. While it may be funny to say Lambchop have mellowed-out on this new release, it is pretty much the truth. Although Lambchop were never inclined to pull a Cheap Trick, they occasionally could induce a crowd into some heavy-duty, um, toe tapping. But this latest record abandons that approach altogether for an album that is akin to earlier Lambchop as Crooked Fingers is to Archers of Loaf. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but you get my point. "Is a Woman" is an album for lazy spring days and warm summer nights. It offers you the option of letting it float around in the background unnoticed, or studying its every sonic detail. Either way, it is a rewarding listen.

--Karthik