Lambchop - Is a Woman From Nixon to Is a Woman Lambchop have covered about the same distance as the Buddha who was born a prince and became a beggar. The richness of the lush orchestral tone with wind and string section gives way to a stripped down piano and guitar dominated sound with hardly any drums above which Kurt Wagner's raspy tenor thrones. Though the number of participating band members has shrunk by one half compared to Nixon the texture of the music has become even more dense. Is a Woman proves that less can be more. The bass replaces the drums as rhythm section in most tracks. We are much closer to jazz than to alt.country here. It is all very open and relaxed. But the sound stays warm and intimate. The sustained keyboard play adds an ambient atmospheric component. Wagner does not sing in his slightly irritating falsetto anymore. The album has an amazing soothing flow, the first three tracks constitute about the most perfect start of any album I know. Track number 8 is the only weak song. Though I would have wished the album a stronger closer than the title song which turns halfway into a reggae very similar to No Woman, No Cry. Nevertheless this record is a miracle. So simple yet so profound. A perfect soundtrack for a winter night at the open fire. The first truly great record of the new millenium¹. I am really very curious how Lambchop's next album will be. They already have attained a very high degree of maturity on Is a Woman. ¹ On second thoughts maybe the second after last year's Amnesiac by Radiohead.