Lambchop: Aw C'mon/No You C'mon

By REBECCA BARRY

(Herald rating: * * *)

Some albums are like impressionist paintings - they make more sense when you blur the details.

And while you can't help but wonder why Lambchop didn't condense this sprawling double disc, you have to admire their intentions to create an almost cinematic listening experience.

Aw C'mon and No You C'mon are logical progressions to both the Nashville collective's somewhat limited Is A Woman (2002) and to themselves, whatever order you listen to them. But their heavy slew of instrumental tracks suggests they've hidden the diamonds in the rough on purpose: the wise folk-pop of Low Ambition, frontman Kurt Wagner's passionate lamenting on Steve McQueen and the dark beauty of Each Time I Bring It Up It Seems To Bring You Down.

The arrangements are spectacular if not familiar: breezy strings, brooding pianos, muddy guitars and Wagner's Lou Reed meets Tom Waits muttering, creating, as always, a perturbing sense that the sunny exterior hides something more menacing. But it's a little too much Lambchop to digest in one sitting.


Label: Virgin