FLOTUS
Merge
2016
Rating: 7.5 big box deals out of 10
If you've ever wondered what would happen if Lambchop recorded a record where nearly all of the vocals were sung through tweaked-out autotune, have I got a treat for you... Honestly, it works a lot better than you might expect. Then again, when it comes to Kurt Wagner & company, it's best not to have any set expectations because they're surely gonna fuck with them in their own subtle way. Even by Lambchop standards this is a very mellow album, more piano-led electronic lounge music than the off-kilter orchestral country in which the band typically traffics. "FLOTUS" begins with the twelve minute long "In Care of 8675309" that sounds like the best song Bon Iver didn't write; ends with the eighteen minute long "The Hustle" that could have just as easily been on Wagner's electronic side project Hecta; and inbetween, tracks generally meander between different combinations of electronic beats, piano/keyboards, and (mostly) distorted vocals. It sounds different from other Lambchop records, but right at home at the same time.
