The time has come to stop calling
Lambchop
"Nashville's most f*cked-up country band." Given the stylistic breadth and ambition of
Kurt Wagner
's ongoing project, that designation has long been too limiting, as funny as it may be. But since collaborating with the Nashville electronic duo
Hands Off Cuba
in 2005 and debuting his side project
HeCTA
in 2015,
Wagner
has been distancing himself from the organic, twangy chamber pop that had been
's stock-in-trade in favor of clean digital soundscapes and heavily auto-tuned vocals.
dove deep into electronics on
's 2016 album
FLOTUS
, and 2019's
This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You)
suggests he's not turning back. The smooth, aerodynamic lines of this music, the spectral sound of the distorted and layered vocals, and the implacable snap of the percussion loops mark
This
as a bolder journey that goes even deeper into
's new musical territory. However, much like
, a closer listen reveals this music is still very much in league with
's previous work. The graceful flow of the melodies, the mingled longing and resignation of
's vocals, and the very human compassion and fleeting joy that is evoked by the eight songs on
draw the listener in. While the tone of
's musical backdrops is often cool and ghostly, it's engaging as well; there's a mildly trippy quality to the production that lends the music the qualities of a dream where the commonplace and the fantastic exist side by side. Percussionist
Matthew McCaughan
, who has previously worked with
Bon Iver
and
Hiss Golden Messenger
, co-wrote five tracks on
and was
's primary collaborator for the sessions. Though there are moments where genuine horns, guitars, or harmonicas are audible on the horizon,
McCaughan
have created a sonic environment that's alien but still full of recognizable heart, soul, and emotion. Like
's best work,
takes the listener someplace they haven't been before, and in this case that includes the fictive homelands of
Nixon
Mr. M
, but it's also a place worth visiting. While this is hardly country or f*cked up, it's strange, beautiful, and the sort of thing only
could create, and we're lucky to have him around. ~ Mark Deming