On November 4th, Lambchop will release FLOTUS, their first album in four years. The follow-up to Mr. M, one of 2012’s best releases, is an abbreviation for For Love Often Turns Us Still (though First Lady Michelle Obama obviously deserves her very own LP).
Due out through Merge Records, the 11-track effort is said to be an “homage” to hip-hop music, in particular material from such artists as Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, and Frank Ocean. Even so, much of it still retains mastermind/founding member Kurt Wagner’s distinct sound.
(Read: Top 10 Merge Records Releases)
FLOTUS brims “with the many hallmarks of Lambchop’s catalogue: the same beautifully nuanced arrangements, the same unparalleled ability to capture the eternal in life’s quotidian struggles.” The press release adds, “Wagner has made a new path to the same old joys, and in the process, he found a record that sounds like no one else — or, completely, unmistakably, like himself.”
The upcoming LP is bookended by two lengthy songs, “In Care of 8675309” and “The Hustle”. The latter, an 18-minute cut featuring skittering synths, can be heard up above.
In a statement, Wagner explains the meaning behind “The Hustle”:
“My wife and I attended this wedding of one her colleagues in the countryside outside of Nashville. Weddings are a heady mix of emotions, memories, and events that can be quite rich in imagery. With this being a Quaker wedding, there was a lack of “officiating” in that the bride and groom addressed each other directly the entire time. This was something that I found to be most touching. Beyond that, as with much of my writing, I tend to describe experiences in an almost journalistic fashion and then strip things down till there is barely a thread to hold them together—in this case, starting with the vows and then moving on from there. The entire wedding party was doing this great synchronized dance step that I hadn’t seen before. I asked my wife what dance it was, and she told me it was the Hustle. She suggested I join them. I respectfully declined.”
Find the album artwork and tracklist below, followed by a trailer.
FLOTUS Artwork:
FLOTUS Tracklist:
01. In Care of 8675309
02. Directions to the Can
03. FLOTUS
04. JFK
05. Howe
06. Old Masters
07. Relatives #2
08. Harbor Country
09. Writer
10. NIV
11. The Hustle
