Long regarded an alt-country band (or, by its own estimation, “Nashville’s most fucked-up country band”), Lambchop has long been something more. Especially in more recent years, Kurt Wagner’s group has branched out with albums exploring soul and a knowing sort of lounge music.

“If Not I’ll Just Die” fits the latter category. It’s the first tune released from Lambchop’s next album, “Mr. M.” The song is gauzy, with saccharine strings, moody piano and quiet, brushed drums framing Wagner’s voice, which is quietly conversational, and a little bit jarring. “Don’t know what the fuck they talk about,” he sings at the start of a song flickering through images of domesticity so mundane they become somehow magical.

Merge Records, which releases “Mr. M” Feb. 21, describes it as “a collection of meditations on love and loss and the detritus of everyday existence.” Sounds about right.

Photo by Bill Steber

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Lambchop – If Not I’ll Just Die by MergeRecords

November 17, 2011 at 1:07 pm | Share |