Lambchop – Weakened
Lambchop have announced Punching The Clown, their sixteenth album, due August 21 via City Slang. It follows The Bible (2022) and reunites bandleader Kurt Wagner with producer Ryan Olson. Lead single “Weakened” features Andrew Broder on guitar, Justin Vernon on banjo, and a six-part choir directed by Blake Morgan. Mark Nevers recorded and mixed. Twelve further singers were added later in London, with Randal in Minneapolis. The whole album was tracked in three days at Vernon’s April Base studio in Wisconsin.
The album’s starting point was a song Wagner heard on the radio in early 2024, driving to get gas: a single strummed banjo chord and a few voices. He never identified it. In searching for it, he came across lined-out singing, a call-and-response a cappella tradition that originated in late 19th century Scotland, migrated to Appalachia, and became an obscure root of American gospel and country. “Its unadorned simplicity gave weight to the words as they were sung”, he says. “I wanted to make a record that emulated this kind of music.” The album’s entire format, banjo, voice, and choir, grew from that impulse. All twelve tracks were chosen from thirty completed songs; Wagner and Olson set the tracklist before recording and didn’t deviate from it.
Wagner describes the songwriting process with characteristic self-deprecation: he needed to become a better writer, so he studied the lives and work of great songwriters, “allowing their madness pain and truth to become mine”, and failed repeatedly until he didn’t. “Weakened” is the result of that: spare, Wagner’s slightly hoarse voice sitting above the guitar before Vernon’s banjo settles in and the choir opens up behind it. The lined-out singing reference is subtle but present, audible in the way the voices respond to and extend the melody rather than simply supporting it. I’ve followed Lambchop long enough to have heard the Auto-Tune years, the soul-country years, the various reinventions, and what strikes me about “Weakened” is how completely Wagner has stripped the approach back without it sounding like retreat. The choir doesn’t swell for effect; it just holds the song up, quietly, which is exactly the point.
Punching The Clown is out August 21 via City Slang.
Tour Dates:
North America:
- June 28 – Minneapolis, MN @ Crooners Supper Club
- Aug 30 – Minneapolis, MN @ Crooners Supper Club
- Sept 27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Crooners Supper Club
- Sept 29 – Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Music / Maurer Hall
- Oct 1 – New York City, NY @ Public Records
- Oct 2 – New York City, NY @ Public Records
Europe:
- Nov 18 – Viseu, PT @ Teatro Viriato
- Nov 19 – Lisbon, PT @ Culturgest
- Nov 21 – Braga, PT @ Theatro Circo
- Nov 22 – Espinho, PT @ Auditório de Espinho
- Nov 24 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
- Nov 25 – Sheffield, UK @ Octagon
- Nov 26 – Gateshead, UK @ Sage 2
- Nov 27 – London, UK @ Union Chapel (featuring choir)
- Nov 28 – London, UK @ Union Chapel (featuring choir)
- Dec 1 – Dudelange, LU @ Opderschmelz
- Dec 2 – Antwerp, BE @ Arenberg
- Dec 3 – Roeselare, BE @ De Spil
- Feb 7 – Oslo, NO @ Konserthus
- Feb 9 – Trondheim, NO @ Byscenen
- Feb 11 – Copenhagen, DK @ DR Koncerthuset
- Feb 12 – Hamburg, DE @ Christianskirche
- Feb 13 – Berlin, DE @ Passionkirche
- Feb 14 – Erlangen, DE @ Markgrafentheater
- Feb 16 – Vienna, AT @ Theater Akzent
- Feb 17 – Budapest, HU @ House Of Music
- Feb 19 – Glasgow, UK @ St Lukes
- Feb 20 – Galway, IE @ St Nicholas’ Church
- Feb 21 – Dublin, IE @ The Helix
