Showtunes

Album review

In the song "Left of the Dial" by the Replacements, Paul Westerberg sang of "Sweet Georgia breezes, safe, cool and warm," and if that phrase was inherently contradictory, it was also powerfully evocative, capturing an essence of the feel of life in the American South. Kurt Wagner is from Tennessee, not Georgia, but he understands the yin and yang of cool and warm as well as anyone in contemporary popular music, and 2021's Showtunes, the 16th studio album from his long-running group Lambchop, is built around the balance between the cool textures of his music and the emotional warmth of Wagner's alternately morose and hopeful lyrics and vocal delivery. Showtunes, like 2020's Trip, finds Wagner and his collaborators trying to broker a compromise between the organic sound of Lambchop's most celebrated work and the chilly but starkly beautiful landscapes of his electronic productions from 2016's FLOTUS onward, though in this case the more human side of this music comes from Wagner's voice rather than the arrangements and production. The material on Showtunes emphasizes dynamics and pure sound over melody, and while the music is often quite lovely, if you were hoping there would be a tune you could whistle along with on this LP, you'll be a little disappointed. Showtunes is often so spectral that it's best heard through headphones, as the ordinary noises of life will likely swallow up many of the details of "Unknown Man" or "Fuku." The liner notes credit Andrew Broder on piano and turntables, and that says a lot about how Showtunes sounds; keyboards, horns, and voices hover over the clouds of electronic texture, with occasional beats from DJ Twit One coming into focus while Wagner's slightly surreal but endearingly human lyrics make their way through the music. And even though the mix often treats his voice as just another ingredient in the soup, it's the hope, sorrow, and honesty of his performance that keeps this music grounded; when Showtunes seems so fragile as to blow away in a strong breeze, he gives the skeleton flesh and blood and lets the heart take over from the mind for a while. The album puts too much emphasis on its cool side rather than the warmth that truly elevates the music, but there is more than enough beauty and empathy here to make this well worth your time and attention.

© Mark Deming /TiVo