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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
kurt wagner's first symphony, March 8, 2002
I first heard Lambchop when Radio 1's Evening Session picked up on 'The Man Who Loved Beer' back in '95. It was a beautiful, maudlin almost wounded song which sounded like country music after several million years of evolution. Since then they have been categorised with the alt.country or the Americana movement.
Their last album, 'Nixon' was their masterpiece and was clearly a move away from any kind of country influences. Kurt Wagner was singing in a much higher register and 'Nixon' was full of a gorgeous, glacial soul.
The new album 'Is A Woman' has received some mixed reviews. It is very different from anything they have done before. There are no traces of country and really very few obvious contemporary comparisons. The songs are pretty much all one paced, there are no radio songs, although the title track does chug up a gear half way through. And yet from the first moments of 'The Daily Growl' you feel overcome with awe at this beautiful record. Listening to 'Is A Woman' is like sinking back into velvet cushions and being bathed in bliss.
Lambchop are known for an ever-expanding line-up - heading towards 20 at the latest count - and yet this is an apparently simple record with delicate, minimal instrumentation. The secret surely is that four people in a band make pop music, Lambchop have created a modern symphony.
'Is A Woman' is an astonishing, refreshing, life-affirming work. It is so good it makes 'Nixon' look ordinary. It's hard to single out any track, they are all so obviously parts of a greater whole and the whole is seamless.
This is not alt.country or any other type of country, they'll have to invent a whole new genre for this one.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intimate, fragile, understated masterpiece, April 17, 2002
Another Nixon? Certainly not. The band has deliberately set out to make this a quiet record, and have dispensed with the grandeur that Nixon celebrates. No less magnificent, Is a Woman refrains from its predecessors orchestral splendour, and finds a new sumptuousness in Wagner's rich, gravely tones, accompanied by complimentary but unobtrusive piano and guitar harmonies, This is a side of Lambchop not heard as yet there is no trace of their early country influence it in places more closely follows the blues tradition. Imagine one man at a piano, singing idle reflections, in a dimly-lit bar, as you listen to Wagner tease and caress every word and syllable in his melancholic, yet strangely reassuring way.
The songs pay homage to life's poignant simplicities, with gentle witticisms and lovable self-deprecations. From the obscure to the discernable, this is largely an observational album, of the self and others (note the detectable reference to Vic Chestnutt in Autumns Vicar), life and everything. Is Lambchop a woman? Some might say so, with this exploration of their more delicate, sensitive side. Particularly stunning tracks include the most charming My Blue Wave (when the dog gives you the paw), the wonderfully humorous I Can Hardly Spell My Name, and the gorgeous title track, Is a Woman, with its uplifting reggae twist as climax.
Whether the magic lies in their rustic timbre, Wagner's resonant vocals, or the lyrical beauty of the music, this is a gem. Sit back, and let Is a Woman work its spell on you.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hypnotic, May 7, 2002
By A Customer
Avoid categorizing this music and simply accept it on it's own terms. This is neither mood music or country music. It IS quiet, but also extremely compelling. The melodies engage you and the spare arrangements draw you in. I am not sure what to tell you it sounds like, but I CAN say that I cannot stop listening to it. It feels intimate and stays with you.
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