SHOWTUNES, the new Lambchop record is out today! Listen / purchase / stream here!

In late 2019, as he has done so many times throughout his varied and fascinating career, Kurt Wagner was experimenting with something new, something that would eventually reveal itself as Lambchop's Showtunes. By taking simple guitar tracks and converting them into MIDI piano tracks, 'Suddenly I discovered I could 'play' the piano', he says. 'It was a revelation that from those conversions, I was able to manipulate each note and add, subtract, arrange the chords and melody into a form that didn't have any of the limitations I had with my previous methods of writing with a guitar'.

Removing these limitations led to a surprising new sound, something akin to show tunes but with edges burnished and viewed through Kurt's own specific lens. 'In general, it's a genre I was none too fond of', he admits, 'with the exceptions of a few Great American Songbook–type of stuff or some of the works of artists like Tom Waits or early Randy Newman or even Gershwin or Carmichael. I'd always wanted to make songs with a similar feel, but my skills were limited until now'.

Pre-order Showtunes today on CD, LP, and limited white vinyl in the City Slang store and participating record shops. Also available in the City Slang store: the official Lambchop Showtunes dog calendar which spans June 2021–June 2022 and features album cover model Rookie and other pups from the extended Lambchop family. Pre-order at the link above.

“Showtunes abstract qualities are startling” - 8/10 - Uncut

“It’s beautiful, meditative stuff” - 4/5 MOJO

“a restless, dense, audacious and genuinely experimental record that, despite sounding not quite like anything the band have made before, nonetheless retains their personality and wit, retooled for another reinvention…. Brilliantly daring. Three decades in, it would’ve been so easy to play it safe; it seems clear from the experimental triumph of Showtunes that, thankfully, Lambchop just don’t know how” - 9/10 Loud & Quiet