Lambchop

Lambchop

Aug 12

Do The Hustle!

Where: Saint Luke’s
When: 9 August 2017
Support: Roxanne de Bastion

Kurt Wagner, Lambchop’s heart and soul, is the antithesis of the music star image with his ordinary clothes, always present truckers cap, and subdued vocal manner. But his band’s music is rarely ordinary or subdued and tonight is no exception – the gig was a triumph, often deeply soulful and emotional, and at times even ecstatic.

Lambchop played as a trio for this show: Kurt, in excellent voice, superbly supported by Matt Swanson on bass and Tony Crow on piano etc. (the latter also providing a good impersonation of Beau Bridges in The Fabulous Baker Brothers mode, complete with bad jokes). Kurt was also very engaging throughout and even throwing some (albeit subtle) moves in the first song of the evening (perhaps reflecting his admiration of the Sleaford Mods, fellow travellers at a recent European festival).

The set was dominated by one of the best albums of 2016, Flotus (the liner notes claim the acronym means ‘For Love Often Turns Us Still’ and – I suspect it’s just another example of Kurt’s dry sardonic wit, a Melania Trump red herring, and you really shouldn’t go looking for any deeper political meaning). But we also get several older classics and even, as an encore, a song from their previous incarnation as Posterchild. My favourite song tonight is ‘The Hustle’ (see sample video below), even though truncated from the 18+ minute album version, which to me has echoes of Destroyer’s ‘Bay of Pigs’ (and you can catch Destroyer at CCA on 5 December).

Flotus makes a nonsense of the usual alt-country label applied to Lambchop (including by this website!) and the middle-aged crowd seemed to embrace its embrace of electronica. Of course, Wagner’s palette has always been far more eclectic than any single tag can capture and tonight we get glitchy beats, vocodered vocals, gentle propulsive house beats and jazzy piano, all marinated in the more usual Lambchop country soul sound.

Band page
Sample video