Lambchop: Is a Woman

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

Having delivered one of 2000's most intriguing albums in Nixon, Lambchop - the expansive vehicle for Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kurt Wagner - follows it up with a much quieter affair.

In place of the big band semi-orchestral approach of its predecessor, this is largely a hushed set based on Wagner's ruminative voice, a quiet sprinkling of piano, a smattering of percussion and the barest touches of acoustic guitar. No, not particularly Nashville, nor Wagnerian for that matter.

But still quite beguiling as Wagner croaks his chamberpop tunes, sounding not unlike Leonard Cohen's gentle alt-country cousin.

Not that his band twangs; they simmer away quietly dropping weird sonic touches into the cocktail hour ambience as Wagner's melancholic lyrics paint a picture of a literate lonely guy in an autumnal setting, occasionally saving his best conversation for his dog (as on My Blue Wave). The album muses from gentle song to gentle song, the only mood-swing being the final and title track on which Wagner feels it's time to dust off his Bob Marley impression. No, not exactly rebel music but beguiling while it lasts.

Label: FMR