Some Diurnal Aural Awe

Saturday, 29 August 2026

Into the Distance Music 126

Lambchop - Punching the Clown, album review

No Shit!

I vaguely remember Lambchop’s first album Nixon in 2014 – I mean ‘vaguely’ in terms of recalling the songs as I haven’t listened again for such a long time, but I do know I liked and followed since then, though again these subsequent ones get lost in the swarm of other music listened to in that time.

Like most, I’m sure, I’ve never forgotten the distinctive voice/singing of Kurt Wagner with its droll, witty, plaintive, poetic narratives. This latest album is dominated by that signature sound, but is dressed in the most beautiful choral accompaniment by the London Choir and the Eau Claire Vocal Sextet.

Mainly simply strummed guitar and banjo, the latter played by Justin Vernon, this combination sets much of the melodious as with opener Just West of Nicolette and third Weakened, both sweet. In these the choric element is hypnotic – certainly gorgeous – and in Weakened like a wind swirling (with some electronics in this track too).

I’m only on my second listen so hearing and learning more about its structured beauty as well as storytelling. Here are the plaintive lyrics from Weakened:

Then he fell sick…

Things had gotten peculiar

The grainy underwater

Singing sounds in his head

He lay on his cot

Watched the barren cracks

Formed in the ceiling

Old rags of late

Were no comfort

Oh,

The weaker souls

I’m a-ready

Then he fell sick…

Looked like a Buddha in a blanket

His eyes lifted to the window

Like he was waking from a dream

The sighs that were heard

Of a long fevered world

How does it feel

I don’t feel

Oh,

The weaker souls

They will go

Oh,

The weaker souls

I believe it

The weaker souls

‘No Shit’ is a rapper’s brisk interjection in the opening track. For more details and to get, go here

PS In the song No Chicago, which is essentially a list of city names, the lyrics (or full lyrics) are not yet available online. On one site, obvious names are given, but '???' is written for those which haven't been worked out yet. One of these queries is for Karlsruhe, which I picked out immediately with great joy because I lived there for two years as a kid!

Saturday, 22 August 2026

Into the Distance Music 125

Shawn James - Passage, album review

Musical Alignment

The listening treat is, as usual, mostly in James’ vocal – that gruff but fulsome voice, able to roll into falsetto (for example) without sounding like it’s a test of show-off range. This is well demonstrated on Headed for the End with its bluesy, punchy strut that is on a signature emotive journey. Peace of Mind is similarly rooted in thrust and rock pulsing, the singing carrying the fullest load. I’m stressing where the weight is, and these two songs have that bit extra compared with the often melodramatic trajectory of others. Reading my reviews of James’ other output here might suggest where the songcraft is a more significant and sustained accompaniment. The acoustic Sometimes is a beautiful perfection of musical alignment in this collection. Let Me Go is excellent.

More details and to get, go here