Lambchop – The Bible Review

As ambient as it is melancholic, Lambchop’s latest release, The Bible, could fool listeners into what is initially, immediately perceived, as a religious record. That connotation of the title is simple enough. Opening track His Song Is Sung doesn’t so much as hint at devout confirmation as it does roar through with it. So what, then, stops The Bible from its clarity of God and deeply moved gospel-style of music? Abstract nature, that is what. But abstract qualities are only as strong as the instrumentals that put them together, a lingering baroque charm pushed aside for a jagged and confrontational simplicity through the vocals of Kurt Wagner.

Opening track His Song is Sung is impossible to pinpoint. A genre-bending track that leaps its way through sombre piano pieces and soon crescendos in a synth-beat sophistication pursued further into the album. The Bible marks itself with ten tracks that overlap, double-up and confuse with the limpid writings and ragged, spoken-word-like style of Wagner. Rising and falling with overlaps of musical style make for a resoundingly broad work that contemplates a melodic focus like no other. Each track is a change of pace. From the orchestral feel of His Song Is Sung to the funk and soul groove bassline that opens Little Black Boxes, there is an intensely broad and experimental process to The Bible, ruined somewhat by some of the botched investigations. Daft Punk-like vocoder effects rip apart the quality mixing on Little Black Boxes, for instance.

But whether that experimentation works for the individual is presumably of no interest to Wagner and company. The stripped-back, story-like process of Daisy is as tonally distant from the preceding and forthcoming tracks. Piano lounge, gospel, electronica, there is no short supply of how broad and exciting The Bible can be. Ultimately, such a broad spread leads to some incredible results. After a stumble with Little Black Boxes, Wagner and company return to this consistently brilliant form that creates atmospheric gospel-backed soundscapes. Police Dog Blues is full of mystery and curiosity, with rock-like guitars submerged in a brass scope of saxophones and trumpets. Pianos power through with Wagner’s vocal strengths, which grow and grow from track to track.

Moving, to say the least, The Bible has within it such contemporary innocence and style. Natural vibrance flows through these tracks and they are strangely emotive. Perhaps it is the slow flow that comes through these tracks and their bustling, essential, core. Those little oddities that creep in, the vocoder mixing and the oddball sound effects do, to some degree, keep Lambchop unique. How much of that is successful or even better for the sake of the beauty of the tracks at the heart of The Bible is unknowable. At the very least, though, there is a real consistency throughout. Even when those unique turns don’t work out that well, it is still impressive and even inspiring to hear the pacing, the tone and the delightful cohesion that comes through these musicians. It is melodic and calm despite featuring many instruments and technical challenges more often associated with genres of a far faster pace.