What Another Man Spills

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What Another Man Spills is Lambchop's fifth album to date, and, like its predecessors, marries the instrumentation of country music with strangely erudite soul songs which are at once full of genuine wit and fragility. Once again the songs here a largely penned by Lambchop main man Kurt Wagner, although the group (a fourteen-piece for on this date) who are cover (rather wonderfully) soul man Curtis Mayfield's Give Me Your Love and Frederick Knight's I've Been Lonely For So Long , and additionally, the album features songs contributed by East River Pipe’s FM Cornog and Yo La Tengo’s James McNew. The tension between the songs - their lyrical content, their melodic line, their vocal delivery - and the country arrangements makes sure that that they’re never anything less than intriguing. This reviewer is reminded of the similar stylistic tension/conflict in the early albums of Lyle Lovett and even kd lang. Which isn't to say that Lambchop are all intensity and painful soul-searching; the album finishes with the group jamming and partying, obviously relishing their evident skills as players - and having some fun.