OH (ohio)
B-
- Lambchop
- OH (ohio)
- Merge
Artist:
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"Slipped Dissolved And Loosed" by Lambchop
Lambchop's seemingly effortless combination of smooth grooves, cryptic lyrics,
and creeping menace is a perilously difficult mixture to get right; that the
band has done it so often is a testament to Kurt Wagner's omnivorous musical
intelligence. OH
(ohio) gets the
sophistication and tone right, but something's slightly off: What was once
autumnal is, at this moment, slightly dull. Like a Garrison Keillor monologue,
"Close Up" pronounces that "We all have sinned" without losing its poise, but
it's hard to tell what Wagner's going on about. As ever, his lyrics remain both
literally obscure and sonically buried. That leaves the music, which
increasingly resembles a narcotized version of the chug of bands like Okkervil
River and The Decemberists, where keening repetition gains momentum. But the
center—Wagner—just isn't strong enough here; there's little tension
or progression. A closing cover of "I Believe In You" (made not terribly famous
by Bette Midler) couldn't be lovelier, but something fails missing on many
other songs, from the opening bossa nova of "Ohio" to the folksy repetition of
"National Talk Like A Pirate Day." Whatever the X factor that elevates Lambchop
usually, it's not here often enough.
