Lambchop return with Punching the Clown, the Nashville group’s 17th album and a return to a more stripped-back approach for songwriter Kurt Wagner. The album grew from a late-night encounter with an unidentified gospel recording that introduced Wagner to “lined out singing”, a centuries-old Scots-Appalachian call-and-response tradition in which a leader delivers hymns line by line for a congregation to repeat.
That tradition became a starting point for Wagner as he revisited the fundamentals of songwriting, wanting to recreate the raw, unadorned power of that call-and-response tradition.
The album was recorded over three days with guitarist Andrew Broder, while Justin Vernon contributes banjo. A six-part choir, assembled by Blake Morgan, provides the communal vocal element that runs through the record, with Lambchop veteran Mark Nevers handling engineering duties. The resulting album sees Wagner’s understated delivery set against guitar, banjo and choral parts.
Punching the Clown is available today from Merge records on vinyl, CD and digital formats.