L I V E
LAMBCHOP
Barbican, London, June 1
Backed by piano, bass and choir, Kurt Wagner rewrites The Bible
Hermeticyet open-hearted: KurtWagner frontsLambchop
ERIKWESTRA
THIS is Lambchop’s first London visit in five years, and they take no prisoners. Seven songs from most recent album The Bible are interspersed with seven from throughout their career, in arrangements determined by a trio format faintly resembling the band’s scuffling Nashville beginnings – Kurt Wagner on vocals, Andrew Barber on piano and Cole Davis on double bass – plus a six-piece choir directed by Blake Morgan. The soundworld, much reduced from The Bible’s spare but richly conceived palette, is rigorously fixed.