New Song Of The Day: Lambchop – A Chef’s Kiss

Today its new music from Lambchop and the song is A Chef’s Kiss.

The fine folks at Merge Record have sent us this missive regarding the new Lambchop song and upcoming album:

Lambchop’s new studio album Showtunes, arriving May 21, is a testament to bandleader Kurt Wagner’s singular world-building and subsequent exploration of that world. The album’s eight compositions are something akin to show tunes but with edges burnished and viewed through Wagner’s specific lens.

Showtunes introduces itself with a straightforward number (well, by Lambchop standards) called “A Chef’s Kiss,” which Wagner describes as “a reflection on the temporal nature of life and ultimately of song itself. A ‘chef’s kiss’ being a gesture toward something perfected or well done, even loved.”

Watch its lyric video today, and pre-order Showtunes on CD, LP, and translucent orange Peak Vinyl in the Merge store and participating record stores. Also available: the official Lambchop Showtunes dog calendar which spans June 2021–June 2022 and features album cover model Rookie and 12 other pups from the extended Lambchop family.

While last year’s all-covers TRIP LP was tracked in the studio by the Lambchop six-piece live band, Showtunes was created by Wagner remotely with contributions from a new group of Lambchop contributors including Ryan Olson of Gayngs and Poliça, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, GRAMMY Award–winning co-producer and engineer Jeremy Ferguson, Cologne DJ Twit One, and more. Though the line-up is less familiar than it has been for some time, “In hindsight, it made perfect sense,” Kurt says.

“The original idea behind Lambchop was: anyone could be part of Lambchop (so long as they behaved themselves). This revolving-door policy is how the band has grown and contracted through our many years.” This idea is not a surprise to anyone who has followed the band over the years. In fact, it’s what has always made Lambchop special—a sense of family and connection that extends beyond any one member at any one time and allows for free expression and experimentation that keeps things as fresh as they have ever been.

“One of the things that holds Lambchop together, what binds us,” Kurt surmises, “is that we are friends with similar likes and an appreciation and respect for what each other does. It’s what has kept this band evolving through time. With this approach, the group has just gotten larger with its members free to come and go, to be a part of the music as the songs and their interest might allow. Just like in the beginning.”